SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » TAG: Open Source

October 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Going Open for SMB?

TAGS: Open Source

If you're like most small business IT folks, keeping a lid on expenses is a key part of your job. There's no question that many commercial applications are very capable, but they frequently carry non-trivial pricetags, so alternatives are always worth at least a passing glance.
Over the course of the next few weeks I'm going to be looking at a number of no-cost or low-cost options for getting many common tasks accomplished, though you shouldn't worry -- I'm not going to ignore commercial products for small businesses.

To get things started, I've been taking a look at OpenOffice.org 2.3, the latest open-source office productivity suite from the OpenOffice project. I last looked at OpenOffice several versions ago, when my conclusion was that this was a hair-shirt sort of office productivity suite, acceptable if you simply had no money, but no challenge for commercial products like Microsoft Office. My first question as I launched into the new version was whether the software had moved up into the genuinely usable category. The answer, I found, is yes.

OpenOffice 2.3 doesn't have the breadth of applications to compete with the full-bore Microsoft Office suite. It does have a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, database, drawing application, and formula editor. Most people will care deeply about three of these -- word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics. In these three applications, OpenOffice 2.3 provides a solution that could easily work as the sole option for a business. The interface is very much "old school": while OpenOffice works perfectly well with Vista, it doesn't embrace the new Vista-style user interface, and doesn't try to mimic Microsoft Office 2007. If you think that the your employees are likely to have had experience with an earlier version of Office (OK, you could substitute, "If they drew living breath in the last 20 years for that last part...), then OpenOffice 2.3 could be a much easier transition for them than Office 2007.

OpenOffice.org 2.3 doesn't have the deep integration between applications that you see in Office 2007, and there aren't nearly as many business process applications that hook into its user interface. If you're looking for a way to get documents prepared, run what-if scenarios, and create sales presentations to show in a customer's office, then OpenOffice.org 2.3 is a very realistic option.

Are you using OpenOffice.org software for your small business? If you are, let me know. I think that, with a little work, an entirely acceptable suite of software could be put together for an average small business using nothing but free or open-source software. I'll use your suggestions as we build the list of options -- it's going to be a good project.

Posted by Curt Franklin on October 12, 2007 08:55 PM

March 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

ZoneMinder Digital Surveillance Systems

TAGS: Open Source

Security is the utmost for any business, whether it is securing your data, or securing your doors. One often overlooked (or under thought) area of security is a camera system. Most people that consider one don't really know their options and immediately settle for a standard CCTV VCR/DVR based camera system.

Digital recording systems have been a great addition to this market by introducing many new tools and features. One of the most notable is the ability to access video data remotely, via a network connection. Access to a network also allows for remote backups and use of either standard or IP cameras. They also make it easier to control recording schedules or set up motion capturing. Of course, all these features come at a cost.

That's where ZoneMinder comes in. This freely available, Linux based, open source camera monitoring software can easily turn a PC into a monitoring system that compares to a $1,500+ PC based DVR. It has built in flexibility of allowing calls to shell scripts or external programs creating infinite possibilities of integration into other systems. The video and image processing make it very flexible and useful in a wide variety of installations.

ZoneMinder can monitor standard cameras (via a capture card or other device such as USB, firewire, etc.) and remote IP based cameras. Any IP based camera that uses MJPEG streams or has an interface to a single JPEG image will work. It also has the ability to monitor images from a file, if there is no other way to access the image. This can be accomplished with cameras that have an FTP function, though I recommend using a different camera setup if possible (due to security and quality of video). Any camera can be set up for monitoring, recording, motion detection or a combination of the three.

Each captured frame is compared against previous frames in the buffer and checked for differences. If the amount of change is greater than the percent of change defined in the options, an event will be triggered. Depending on the camera settings, events can start recordings, send email alerts, or run an external script. This is enhanced by the ability to filter the captured frame through zone filters that qualify the motion as an event. This is an incredibly useful feature when you are monitoring a high traffic area with a single point of interest, such as a door next to a front window or a register at a busy counter. This helps reduce the number of false alarms.

ZoneMinder is web based for ease of accessibility and can be secured with firewalls, Apache htaccess, and SSL common to the Linux system that it runs on, as well as default authentication which provides multi level user access. It can be configured to FTP videos for remote archiving, X.10 home automation, and even has an xHTML interface that can be accessed from mobile devices. Its open design and ability to call external programs allow for integration into almost any existing system.

ZoneMinder is a low cost alternative to higher priced DVR systems and still has the features and flexibility. A LiveCD is available if you don’t have the hardware to dedicate to a test system. You can get a full list of features and the LiveCD at zoneminder.com. So, if you are even considering a surveillance system, then you definitely need to check out the ZoneMinder site.

Justin Brink
q!Bang Solutions

Posted by Josh Kuo on March 17, 2007 01:10 PM