As the workforce landscape is dramatically changing and many are facing financial uncertainty, businesses are looking for ways to cut down on costs more than ever. Of course, while trimming budgets is essential right now, no one wants to lose functionality — especially when many employees are working from home.
Cutting down on your IT budget may seem challenging, but there are ways to do so through open source software, which doesn’t involve any licensing costs. In fact, by switching to open source technologies, you may be able to reduce your budget by up to 30%.
Not only will it reduce costs, but open source technology also has a lot of flexibility when it comes to customizing features. This means you’ll be able to configure the software to fit your exact needs, which can be particularly useful when transitioning into working from home.
Are you curious about how you can replace your current systems that are unnecessarily driving up costs? Here are four open source technologies that will help you slim down your budget while also increasing functionality.
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Asterisk to Replace Phone Systems
Phone system cost is one major expense that all businesses could benefit from reducing. If you’re looking to cut the costs of your private branch exchange (PBX) system, take a look at Asterisk. Asterisk is an open source PBX communication software that deals with all of your essential telecommunication needs, including handling incoming calls, redirecting callers, and providing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for automated menus. Since it is open source software, it is available without licensing fees — which can make a dramatic difference in your budget. It can be adapted to just about any hardware system, so you won’t have to worry about completely overhauling the system you have in place. Asterisk is also easily configurable, which means that you can customize the features to fit your business’s unique needs — which is much more complicated (and expensive) with traditional PBX systems. Plus, it offers features that are particularly useful for keeping a remote working team connected, such as “conference rooms” that employees can dial into for meetings.
Proxmox to Replace Virtual Environments
Virtualization is another area where businesses can benefit from open source technology. As is the case with phone systems, virtualization platforms can be a huge money drain. Proxmox is an open source program that replaces the more expensive VMware. This virtualization environment is based on KVM virtualization and doesn’t require any licensing fees. It is easy to use, and includes a web interface where you can manage virtual machines, storage, networks, containers, and highly available clusters. Proxmox is also much more flexible than VMware. Since any node can manage a cluster in the program, cluster management is easy to control. It also has features like Logical Volume Manager (LVM), GlusterFS, Common Internet File System (CIFS), and mdadm — all of which contribute to the flexibility of cluster management.
CentOS 8 to Replace Operating Systems
CentOs stands for Community Enterprise Operating System. As you might be able to gather from the name, CentOs provides computing platform functionality that is community supported. The newest version, CentOS 8, was released in 2019 and is the ideal open source replacement for Microsoft Server 2019. CentOS was developed using Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s (RHEL) source code — but, unlike RHEL, it is available without any licensing fees. In addition to it being more budget-friendly, CentOS 8 also offers more flexibility than its non-open source counterparts.
389 DS to Replace Directory Services
When it comes to directory services, a robust program is essential. Thankfully, the 389 Directory Server was created to offer an open source LDAP server option that fits the needs of businesses, and it works seamlessly as a replacement for Microsoft Active Directory. In fact, 389 DS already handles some of the largest LDAP deployments. The powerful open source server allows for easy migration from Active Directory, and can interface with devices that support LDAP authentication. It is a powerful server that fits the demands of busy enterprises, offering the ability to handle thousands of operations every second as well as hundreds of thousands of accounts.
Make the Switch to Open Source
If you’re interested in migrating to open source platforms, contact us today. Under our managed support services, we will create a long-term plan to transition into these budget-friendly and powerful open source technologies. We ensure system reliability and security by proactively identifying areas where your process can be improved. This means all programs will be functioning at their maximum potential – and you’ll drastically reduce your budget in the long run.