Alfresco Embraces SaaS and the Cloud with Its New CMS Platform

In a big endorsement of the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) model, enteprise content management system (CMS) maker Alfresco is embracing cloud- and mobile-based usage of its platform with its new Alfresco 4 release. The open source CMS platform is used by 2,500 enterprises in 55 countries according to the company, and users need to access the content from their mobile devices, share and sync on the go, and more. The new platform is accessible from tablets as well as smartphones, and also allows users to publish straight to social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

According to John Powell, CEO and co-founder of Alfresco, in a statement:

"Never before has the focus of enterprise software been so squarely on empowering users to not just get work done, but to do great work by collaborating anywhere, on any device, with the tools of their choice. Alfresco is the company best positioned to bring enterprise requirements and the power of the cloud together to create real value for both companies and their employees.”

Alfresco has done a good job of competing with alternative platforms, such as Microsoft's Sharepoint, through an open source-centric model. And, other open source content management systems, such as Drupal, have been steadily embracing the cloud. 

Alfresco 4 also features a lot of performance improvements and scalability options. Users can also now take advantage of web-based administration tools for managing content, user rights, and more.

Alfresco 4 integrates a number of applications that will make sense for cloud users, including Dropbox, for sharing and syncing files in the cloud. "We see the integration of Dropbox into Alfresco Enterprise 4, and Alfresco's upcoming cloud service, as a great example of a company using our API to create real value for customers," said Ilya Fushman, Dropbox's Head of Platform Business Development. " We look forward to continuing to work with Alfresco to make this integration successful."

More details on Alfresco's cloud services will be forthcoming, but it's inevitable that most major CMS platforms have to work seamlessly through the cloud, and allow users to take advantage of the applications that they are standardized on in the cloud. You can find many more details about Alfresco 4 here.