Linseed Technologies is constantly investigating better ways to provide an effective IT environment to it's clients. Researching and testing Open Source products, we work to form a set of effective solutions to apply to your organisation.

Open Source products

The Open Source development model can be a hard one to understand. Especially when you want to know how it affects you and your choice of IT products used in your organisation.

Firstly, lets look at how the more familiar “Closed Source” software development model works (this is the model that companies such as Microsoft, Adobe and Nortons use). The company develops the product and then distributes the Software with a license allowing you to use the software after paying for a license fee. So, in most cases you're paying for a license fee, not for the software itself (you don't own it). This is generally how you “buy” Microsoft Windows or Adobe Photoshop.

The reason why the above development model is referred to as “Closed Source”, is you generally do not get access to the source code for the product you purchased. You're generally only supplied with the Software once it has been “compiled” into it's binary form. Binary is the format that computers can understand, but humans can not (it is literally zeros and ones).

The lack of source code and the license restrictions prevent us from modifying any of this Software. So, we rely on the Company that develops the software to fix bugs, implement new features and update the software as Operating Systems change.

So, how does Open Source work? Well, we define Open Source Software as software developed under an Open Source license. The main point being that under this license, we are allowed to aquire the Software and use it without charge. We also get access to the underlying source code. So we can modify the Software if we want to.

If we change the software and redistribute it, then we are obliged (by the license) to publish the source code (along with our changes). This means anyone can develop and change the product. People from all over the world can work on the product to refine it into a stable and efficent product. This means bugs can be fixed by people outside of the orginal Company/Entity that developed the software. The software can also be adapted into other systems to form a new product.

So how does this affect your choice in IT Solutions? Well, the obvious benefit is that we can aquire software without having to pay a license fee. However, it is important to note that this does not mean it does not cost anything to implement this software into your organisation. There is still the cost of research and implementation, along with the usual cost of support to maintain your IT Infrastructure - much the same as there is with closed source software.

You're probably wondering where the benefit is if you're still paying for software, but in a different way? The main thing to relise is at the end of the day you're paying for a solution. Whether that solution is provided with Closed source, Open source or any other type of software, the solution still costs money to implement. So the real benefit that comes from Open Source solutions is it's flexibility. Because we are able to change it, and because we can draw on developers all over the world, from various companies; we're not locked in.

Over the past five years or so, the amount of Open Source software available to utilise has exploded, not only in the server market, but in the desktop, communications, media and embedded markets to name a few. This means we can utilise this software to implement effective solutions for your organisation.

By drawing on the large amount of Open Source Software available to us, Linseed Technologies can develop solutions customised for your organisation's needs.

If you're interested in a solution that is not listed on this page, please contact us and let us know what you require for your organisation. Chances are there is a product out there that we can utilise.

For more information on Open Source and it's success in organisations around the world, please visit our Open Source page.

Compatibility

Linseed Techonologies has a strong focus on system compatiblity across Operating System Platforms. For example, there should be no reason why your organisation can not utilise Windows, Linux and Mac desktops with a Windows or Linux Server. We put a lot of effort into designing IT infrastructure to be cross-compatible with other systems. This means you're not locked into a single vendor and you have the flexibility to expand your systems with a wider range of products.

Most Open Source software is designed to work on more than one platform. Which means, we can develop solutions for whatever choice of Operating System you choose to use. Perhaps you want to use Windows XP and Mac OS X with a Linux Server. It is possible to utilise a uniform standard across these Operating Systems by designing an IT environment that is built with cross-platform compatibility in mind.

Solutions

Linux Servers

Linseed Technologies offers a variety of solutions to cater for your IT needs. Our Linux based servers provide the tools necessary for core IT Infrastructure:

Solution:	Description:
Email	Collaborative email services, improving communication amongt the members of the organisation. Also providing inbuilt SPAM and Virus protection to prevent systems from becoming infected and email accounts getting clogged up with unsolicited email.
File and Printer Sharing	Need to share file and printer resources across your network? We offer a cross-compatible
Web Hosting and Domain name Management	Want a web presence? We can provide web hosting and registering of your domain name.
Data Archive and Backup Solutions	Utilising backup systems such as Backup Tape and Network Attached Storage (NAS), you can maintain data integrity for all of your desktops and servers.
Central User Management	Centrally manage your user accounts for your entire organisation. Use this central database to authenticate users to all of your network resources. This means managing one set of accounts and propagating these across to other sites.
External Network Connectivity	Need to access resources on the server, but not in the Office? Connectivity to your server can be setup to operate over the Internet (or other external network) to access your data remotely.
Virtual Server Support	Server Virtualisation offers the flexibilty to run a server in a “Virtual” environment. This not only makes the server portable, but it also means you can run more than one Virtual server off one physical server. This is a technology that has existed in Mainframe computers for some time, but has only really become affordable for SMB markets.

Web Based Systems

Linseed Technologies works heavily in looking for Web-based software solutions for systems such as Helpdesks, Asset Inventory and Meeting Room Booking systems. These products are hosted from a Web Server that means that once it is setup, the system is accessible by a Web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox) from within your Organisation's Intranet, or from out on the Internet, making the system potentially available across the world.

Another benefit of Web-based software solutions is the ability to utilise your systems across multiple Operating Systems. So, whether you're using a Windows, Mac or Linux Desktop, access to your systems is always available. This is an important flexibility that is often neglected with alternative products that will only run on the one platform.

Network Communication Systems

Open Source Software has had a large market share in the embedded device market for a fair time now. This coupled with the drop in price of embedded hardware means some really effective networking solutions can be developed at a fraction of what it used to cost to implement these solutions.

Utilising Linux ontop of embedded hardware, we can provide network solutions such as:

Solution:	Description:
Wireless Networking	Providing secured Wireless Solutions for in and outdoor use, we can expand your network connectivity from beyond the office.
Firewalls and Routers	Need a custom Internet Gateway solution or routing between two different LANs? Linux offers a set of flexible tools to provide a secured and flexible solution.
Virtual Private Networking	Need to link two remote locations together across the Internet in a secured fashion? VPN technology allows you to build an encrypted “tunnel” through the Internet to ensure your data is secured from prying eyes.