Ingres taps Alfresco for enterprise content management

Companies face ever-growing volumes of content

Open source database management firm Ingres has launched a new appliance designed to help firms manage ever-growing volumes of content in a cost-effective way.

The Ingres Icebreaker ECM Appliance is powered by open source enterprise content management (ECM) firm Alfresco, but uses the Ingres open source database, allowing users to capture, store, manage and deliver data to customers and partners.

Ingres said that customers could benefit from greater efficiency and increased profits if they improve their content management systems. Icebreaker ECM can offer simplified set-up and configuration, and lower maintenance costs than rival ECM systems because it is an appliance-based offering, the firm added.

Ingres also claimed that using open source components could save customers significantly on total cost of ownership.

Roger Burkhardt, president of Ingres, argued that open source ECM companies could see improvements from combining their various technologies to provide a viable alternative to Microsoft SharePoint.

"We believe that the days of predatory pricing practices by behemoth software companies are on the way out," he said.

"In today's economic climate, we believe that businesses will embrace open source alternatives that are just as advanced and reliable, and in some cases cost up to 90 per cent less."