Open Source Software in Business

Open Source software, including Linux, BSD, Apache and the thousands of software packages & applications licensed through a 'free to use' licence such as the GNU GPL, the Mozilla Public Licence and the BSD licence can offer a wealth of benefits to businesses of all sizes. Many businesses have encountered or considered open source software but struggle to understand the benefits it could bring to their business, how to leverage those benefits to their full advantage or how to use open source solutions alongside their existing IT systems.

The benefits of open source software include :

• Lower costs - The most obvious benefit of open source software is the freedom from licensing fees, potentially saving businesses thousands of pounds and freeing them from the burden of licence and asset management - however, TCO (total cost of ownership) is an important consideration which should be factored into any cost saving predictions.
• Customisable - With full access to the source code and free of the restrictions associated with proprietary software, businesses are free to modify applications from the ground up to meet their own specific needs.
• Built on open standards - Provides proven quality through worldwide standards and seamless interoperability between systems.
• Friendly, worldwide community support - The open source community is famed for the wealth of support offered by both developers and fellow users. Users of open source software can take advantage of vast community driven support resources, as well as choosing commercial support packages for mission-critical systems.
• Secure & Reliable - Through the open source model software source code becomes open for peer-review and is scrutinised by thousands of users, developers and researchers throughout the world. Bugs and security vulnerabilities can be identified, tested and responded to much more quickly than with proprietary software.

Despite these benefits, there are a number of obstacles facing businesses looking to deploy Open Source solutions. Result IT can help you to overcome these obstacles, ensuring you are making the most of your open source solution.

We have a wealth of experience and expertise with a wide range of open source systems including operating systems, network services, databases, web application packages and client applications deployed in a wide range of scenarios; from small office file & print servers to network intrusion detection systems, load-balanced web servers and county-wide educational email and web filtering services. The following is a selection of the most popular open source applications we are able to supply, install and support.

Apache Webserver	BIND DNS Server	QMail SMTP Server
MySQL Database	Squid Web Proxy	Perl and PHP
Horde Groupware	RedHat and CentOS Linux	Free BSD and Open BSD