Can you get the market share, developer availability and tools availability of .NET and Microsoft with the license cost, architecture, and community support of an open source system. Sound too good to be true? Let me introduce you to DotNetNuke. An open source content management system that can let you take control of your corporate websites in a low cost, low risk package.
We have been using DotNetNuke (DNN) as a content management and application development platform for customer projects and it has delivered an affordable and easy to use framework that delivers the 4 things that all web applications, website implementations, or content management systems need – format, navigation, search, and security.
DotNetNuke has several advantages to organizations that have invested in other Microsoft technologies in that it can leverage existing IIS and/or SQL Server instances and licenses and doesn't require an investment or diversification into other open source applications for the webserver, language, or database. Instead of the fairly standard LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) combination that is used to deliver a great deal of open source software, it uses the combination of Windows OS, IIS, and SQL Server, .NET (WIS.N – you saw it here first).
Standard modules and functionality included with DotNetNuke that can be leveraged for your corporate website, intranet, extranet, or internal application include:
- Announcements
- Blogs
- Events
- Documents
- Chat
- Image Library
- User Directory and Profiles
- Rich Text Editor
- Skins and Format Containers
In addition to out of the box functionality, there are literally thousands of 3rd party modules, skins, and enhancements available (many for under $100) that can be utilized in the framework to quickly add value.
Check out the variety and scope of these add-ons at http://www.snowcovered.com.
One recommended module for any .NET developers out there would be Open-SmartModule. This module allows you to create .NET controls and wrap them for use in the navigation, security, and module framework that DotNetNuke provides.
You can see who else is using DotNetNuke here: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/ShowcaseSites/tabid/541/Default.aspx
Meritide can help you take control of your existing website using content management, help you develop new sites or applications using the DNN framework, or write custom modules and add-on's for an existing DNN implementation.