Open source database vendor Ingres has announced the availability of its ECM appliance powered by Alfresco’s content management software.

The Ingres Icebreaker ECM Appliance allows customers to pay for the software and support they need.

The Linux-based virtual appliance (.iso format) can be downloaded from the Ingres Web site.

Ingres’ Australia and New Zealand managing director, Jason Leonidas, said content management solutions are often cost prohibitive and remain difficult to implement.

“We built the Ingres ECM Appliance, powered by Alfresco, to give businesses a reliable and cost-savvy way to manage ever-increasing content,” Leonidas said, adding it is affordable because it is a solution based on the open source business model.

Ingres president and CEO Roger Burkhardt said this type of virtual appliance solution, where open source companies combine technologies, will become more prevalent in 2009 and beyond.

“By combining open source technologies from Ingres, Alfresco, and rPath we can provide a competitive alternative to a more expensive SharePoint stack and eliminate the need for Microsoft-only components,” Burkhardt said.

“We believe the days of predatory pricing practices by behemoth software companies are on the way out. In today’s economic climate we believe businesses will embrace open source alternatives that are just as advanced and reliable, and in some cases, cost up to 90 per cent less.”

Locally, Ingres has partnered with Seed Information Management for services and support around the ECM appliance.

Seed Information Management CEO Brian O’Neill said the company can install and run the ECM Appliance at a customer site to “reduce integration and configuration effort, reduce costs and free up time for implementing an effective information architecture using Alfresco”.