Alfresco: Calling All Federal VARs

Alfresco Software, which positions itself as an open source alternative to Microsoft SharePoint, may have found a new door into U.S. federal agencies. Here’s the scoop, along with the implications for solutions providers serving the government vertical.

First, the news: Alfresco has built a software stack that has earned the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.02 standard certification. According to Alfresco, the certification…

But this is more than an Alfresco story. The open source stack includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the MySQL database, Zimbra email, Apache Tomcat web server and Mozilla Firefox web browser.

Partner Program Moves

Alfresco, ranked No. 12 in last year’s Open Source 50 report, has spent much of 2009 expanding its channel partner program. Alfresco, which drives at least 60 percent of its revenues through partners, has joined channel-centric partner associations such as the Open Source Channel Alliance (launched by Red Hat and Synnex). Plus, Alfresco partners like Zimbra have been building their own partner programs.

But are government VARs ready to deploy open source software stacks? Red Hat sure thinks so. And now, so does Alfresco.

Still, let’s keep all of those open source government talk in perspective. Although privately held Afresco reportedly is profitable and growing, rival SharePoint is now a $1 billion annual business for Microsoft.

Clearly, Alfresco wants a bigger slice of that pie — especially in the government market.

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