Open source services for enterprise deployments

Open source has until recently succeeded principally on the server, where the range of solutions is extremely rich. Desktop solutions based on open source are now gaining significant interest, driven in no small way by the licensing costs for the Microsoft Windows desktop and office applications.

Interweft enterprise deployment services

• Open source briefing
• Identifying the open source opportunities
• Identifying and specifying a pilot study
• Open source desktop assessment

Open source briefings

Within many organisations there is interest in the possibile opportunities that open source provide. However, most organisations have little knowledge of open source and obtaining that knowledge from on line resources is

• daunting, due to the vast array of on-line resources
• confusing, as much on-line information can appear to be contradictory or irrelevant.

To help your organisation rapidly understand the key issues surrounding open source, Interweft provides an on site briefing service. Two different briefings are provided, targeted at the different audiences inside an organisation

• Board and senior management briefing - provides an overview of the principal issues, trends and opportunities presented by open source and an overview of the open source industry as a whole.
  This non-technical briefing, including Q&A, generally takes about 90 minutes.
  
• IT management and senior IT staff briefing - provides a brief overview of open source issues and opportunities and technical information of open source covering issues such as licencing, third party software availability, in house developement etc.
  This briefing (which can delve into technical issues to some depth) generally takes about 2.5 hours (including Q&A).

Interweft's CEO, Robert Hart will visit your site to deliver these briefings. For more information please email Interweft.

Identifying the open source opportunities

A significant part of the decision on wether to adopt open source will be determined on the extent of the net opportunity that open source offers to the organisation.

Interweft's significant open source experience will help organisations determine where the potential advantages lie, their approximate size and the degree of difficulty involved in achieving the net advantages.

Working with senior management and the IS/IT function, Interweft will survey the IT functions and tease out the opportunities for open source.

Interweft will provide a report that outlines the opportunities and provides indications of potential cost savings, service improvements etc that can be achieved..

Identifying and specifying a pilot study

Once the initial determination has been made that there is an organisational opportunity in using open source software, many organisations choose to undertake a specific project as a pilot study.

This allows the new software adoption to occur in a controlled fashion, with well thought out goals and criteria for success.

Interweft provides assistance in determining an appropriate pilot study, project plan and measurement criteria.

Open source desktop assessment

Open source has traditionally been strongest on the server, but also offers opportunities on the desktop. Desktop implementations using open source provide significant opportunities for savings in administration and licencing.

Against this, application availabilty and functionality are significant determinants of how far, if at all, open source can be deployed on the desktop.

Interweft will assist your organisation in determining the extent of any desktop deployment opportunities for open source. Interweft's knowledge of the open source applications and application deployment strategies will ensure that the correct determination od the opportunity will occur.