In this article, we introduce the main open source DAM solutions that are currently available (11-12 at the latest count). Most products mentioned here are primarily web based. In some cases desktop clients may also be provided as an alternative mode of interaction also.
In determining which products are suitable to have the description Open Source applied, we have assessed each vendor to identify if they use a licence that is OSI approved as the main criteria for inclusion. Readers should note that this does not mean they are necessarily free of cost (either to purchase or for customisation and on-going support) and each vendor should be consulted to get a better idea of the actual total cost of ownership.
We intend to keep this page up to date with new entrants to the market and adjust reviews based on deeper investigation of each product and any information that might come to light.
Any vendors who are not listed and believe they should be included may contact us using our contact form and request a listing. Please indicate the licence you use if you wish to be listed and supply details of your website. Please refrain from sending details of ECM (Enterprise Content Management) software unless you specifically provide a Digital Asset Management (DAM) facility within that.
If you are already listed and want a logo entry, please add you details to the DAM vendor directory on the Digital Asset Management News site.
Cynapse’s Digital Asset Management solution is a module of their Cyn.in ECM offering which enables it to leverage a number of inherent features already provided as part of the wider platform. The Nuxeo product discussed below is also part of an ECM solution. What appears to be missing from a brief investigation of their promotional literature is support for embedded metadata, however, workflow and transcoding facilities are available as too are desktop clients. Cyn.in is written in Python, Zope and uses the Plone open source framework (Notre DAM discussed below is also Python based).
Summary: Ideal for those looking at DAM as part of an ECM framework and/or for a Python based solution.
Licence: GPL v3
Download link: http://www.cynapse.com/downloads/cynin-community-edition
Technology: Java, CFML and JDBC with PHP integration
Website: http://www.cynapse.com/solutions/technology-solutions/digital-asset-management
DSpace is a framework for developing Digital Asset Management solutions. Developed by HP and MIT Libraries, it is used extensively by academic and research organisations which makes it well suited for preservation usage scenarios. DSpace implementations are organised into Communities which have responsibility for Collections which are in turn composed of assets. DSpace is highly configurable and includes a flexible workflow for applying metadata to assets that will suit complex metadata. Those seeking a more straightforward Digital Asset Management solution may find this software too complex and academically oriented for their needs, however, there can be no denying the power and flexibility of the underlying software.
Summary: Highly research/academically oriented, however, very powerful and suitable for complex preservation requirements.
Licence: BSD
Download link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspace/
Technology: Java, Oracle or Postgres
Website: http://www.dspace.org
Formerly OpenEdit DAM, EnterMedia is an open source Digital Asset Management system developed using the OpenEdit content management framework. EnterMedia includes full support for the typical range of facilities that modern DAM systems should include as standard, including extraction of embedded metadata, bulk uploading, transformation of image based assets etc. By default, EnterMedia uses XML files rather than a database, however, database connectors are available for those who are not keen on this approach. The OpenEdit framework is well established and EnterMedia’s use of it is as well as Java marks it as suitable for enterprise use.
Summary: Good generalist DAM solution with plenty of options to extend for enterprise users.
Licence: GPL (version not known)
Download link: http://entermediasoftware.com/download.html
Technology: Java, XML
Website: http://entermediasoftware.com
Fedora stands for “Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture” and should not be confused with the Fedora Linux operating system distribution. With the exception of DSpace, Fedora Commons differs from more conventional DAMs because it does not impose a particular metadata framework (which they nearly all do in one way or another) and has a very flexible series of object models based around its own FOXML (Fedora Object XML) schema. This flexibility comes at the expense of a steep learning curve and a fairly complex set up (see the note below). If your interest in DAM is providing a relatively conventional system for business/marketing purposes Fedora Commons is likely to be too complex and time consuming when compared with other alternatives, however, if you interested lies towards preservation, curatorial/museum oriented projects then Fedora Commons has to be on your short list.
Summary: Along similar lines to DSpace, Fedora Commons is an open source framework for DAM rather than a packaged DAM product with an open source licence. Fedora Commons’ key benefits are flexibility and interoperability, however, these come at the price of a relatively complex implementation and deployment process when compared with other alternatives.
Licence: Apache 2.0
Download link: http://www.fedora-commons.org/software
Technology: Java
Website: http://www.fedora-commons.org
Notes: For those struggling with installation, this Fedora Commons howto is highly recommended (for Debian at least).
FocusOPEN Digital Asset Manager
FocusOPEN is developed by Daydream, who have a heritage in the DAM system market that dates back to 1995. The latest incarnation of their product is an ASP.NET based. FocusOPEN is oriented towards large scale enterprise corporate use and Daydream’s target market is blue chip corporations who might usually look to closed source enterprise vendors like OpenText, ADAM, North Plains etc. As well as many of the typical features of a DAM system like support for all types of media, embedded metadata extraction and asset manipulation, also included is a range of ‘open studio’ plug-ins with support for enhanced manipulation of print, video, merchandise and email marketing. A full REST API and triggers based integration is provided as well LDAP and Active Directory support that makes it highly suitable for enterprise use. For reasons best known to themselves, Daydream make a point of not offering a public download of FocusOPEN so you must contact them to check their product out.
Summary: Ideal as an open source enterprise DAM alternative but not for SMEs or those with small numbers of assets and/or users.
Licence: AGPL 3.0 and Commercial
Download link: N/A – see http://www.daydream.co.uk/sol_asset_manager.asp for more
Technology: ASP.NET, SQL Server 2005/2008
Website: http://www.digitalassetmanager.com
Menalto’s Gallery is described as a ‘Photo Album Organizer’ rather than a Digital Asset Management system, however, it does offer a number of features and benefits that allow it to operate like a DAM solution. One of two PHP based asset management solutions featured here, Gallery, is mainly oriented towards the needs of photographs and images, however, it does have support for video. Gallery is designed to integrate with other PHP applications and includes support for image manipulation, searching and many of the core functions of other DAM solutions.
Summary: Ideal for hobbyists or providing an image gallery function to an existing PHP based site.
Licence: GPL (version not known)
Download link: http://codex.gallery2.org/Downloads
Technology: PHP, MySQL
Website: http://gallery.menalto.com/
Notre DAM was developed by CRS4 (Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia) and although it has an academic background, it is somewhat simpler than Fedora or DSpace and shares a number of characteristics with more commercially oriented open source DAM systems. Notre DAM uses Python (as does Cynapse mentioned above). By default it includes a SQLLite database (although this can be changed to MySQL or an alternative RDBMS). Notre DAM uses the MediaDART framework which provides a number of media processing features that are ideal for Digital Asset Management. Notre DAM is also tightly integrated with XMP and contains a number of options for XMP based metadata manipulation. The application itself contains the core fundamentals required for serious DAM including a web based interface, support for images, video and documents, workflows, multiple taxonomies and a variety of other functionality such as Geotagging.
Summary: Highly suitable as less complex alternative to DSpace or Fedora also well worth checking out for non-academic use. One to watch.
Licence: GPL3
Download link: http://www.notre-dam.org/NotreDAM/Download.html
Technology: Python/Django, SQLLite or MySQL (or any other Django compatible RDBMS)
Website: http://www.notre-dam.org/
In common with Daydream, Nuxeo are targeting the enterprise end of the Digital Asset Management market. Nuxeo’s open source DAM offering has only been available since January 2010 (and is beta at the time of writing), so is currently the most recent entrant to the open source DAM sector. Nuxeo already have expertise acquired in the open source Enterprise Content Management (ECM) market and boast impressive enterprise credentials. Their DAM solution supports embedded metadata extraction, interoperability with their ECM system and LDAP integration. Unlike FocusOPEN, the majority of dependent technologies are also open source, for example the use of Lucence as the text search engine. Nuxeo permit free download of their product (albeit with registration).
Summary: An enterprise DAM solution built in Java using an established ECM framework.
Licence: LGPL
Download link: http://www.nuxeo.com/en/downloads/download-dam-form
Technology: Java and JDBC
Website: http://www.nuxeo.com
Phraseanet by French vendor, Alchemy, was formerly a licensed product costing 7,500 Euros. However, Alchemy have changed their licensing policy recently and switched to open source. Alchemy were originally a reseller for Phrasea, but acquired the rights to it in 2000. They have a longer track record in the DAM sector than almost any other featured vendor here apart from Daydream (having been operating since 1996). Phraseanet is PHP & MySQL based (as are ResourceSpace and Gallery). The features provided are impressive and demonstrate just what a powerful challenge open source DAM now presents to proprietary alternatives. Phraseanet has support for images, video and documents (using the usual combo of ImageMagick, FFMPEG, OpenOffice etc. for processing) and includes an impressive searching capability as well as lightboxes (favourites). Other features include a thesaurus, live folders and Flash based file uploaders, an LDAP integration module is also available. Alchemy have definitely put themselves back on the map by electing to take Phraseanet open source and it’s well worth checking out if your preference is for a PHP/MySQL based product. The GPL3 Licence is more restrictive than BSD, but still perfectly usable for client projects, Alchemy themselves also provide a range of development and support services as well as a Software as a Service (SaaS) option.
Summary: Ideal for PHP developmers and a possible alternative to ResourceSpace. Built by a vendor with a long track record in DAM.
Licence: GPL3
Download link: http://www.phraseanet.com/en/download/
Technology: PHP & MySQL
Website: http://www.phraseanet.com/
Razuna are a recent entrants to the open source DAM market, having first released a product in late 2007. The Razuna product is Java/CFML based. In common with most professional DAM systems, Razuna supports most types of media, extracts IPTC and XMP metadata from assets and also includes an API. Razuna makes use of an open source variant of CFML (Cold Fusion) using OpenBD which is powered by J2EE. The use of CFML is unusual and Globusmedia’s BrandWorkz (a closed source DAM system) is the only other CFML based DAM system that we are aware of. Razuna offer a WordPress plugin as well as a desktop client as an alternative to pure web based delivery.
Summary: A mid-market DAM solution built using Java and CFML (Cold Fusion), especially suited to those looking for a Resourcespace alternative in Java rather than PHP.
Licence: AGPL v3 and Commercial
Download link: http://www.razuna.org/download
Technology: Java, CFML and JDBC with PHP integration
Website: http://www.razuna.org
ResourceSpace was originally commissioned by UK charity Oxfam who released the product with a BSD licence in 2006 and was developed Dan Huby and Neale Hall. In contrast with Menalto’s Gallery, ResourceSpace is a fully featured PHP/MySQL DAM system and its BSD licence is the most permissive in terms of what third parties can do with it. ResourceSpace provides a wide range of facilities and uses purely open source based tools such as FFMPEG, ImageMagick and OpenOffice. A range of plugins add further functionality to ResourceSpace, including LDAP integration. The service, hosting and support options are reasonably priced and it has good community support. Since ResourceSpace is PHP and MySQL based, it is well suited to web developers who want to leverage their existing PHP expertise and given the heritage of the original product, it is a good choice for charities.
Summary: Ideal for SMEs, not-for-profit organisations and libraries that are looking for a lot of features without high cost. Also a good choice for website developers who may prefer a PHP based system rather than complexities of Java or ASP.NET.
Licence: BSD
Download link: http://www.resourcespace.org/download.php
Technology: PHP and MySQL
Website: http://www.resourcespace.org
A number of people have commented and/or contacted us to ask why Alfresco have not been included in our list of open source DAM systems. The reason is that as described in the definition at the top of the article, Alfresco don’t have a specific DAM product per sé – unlike some of the other open source ECM platforms who do. However, since there has been a high volume of enquiries about this subject, below are some links for anyone who is interested in adapting Alfresco for DAM. It should be pointed out though that if you are searching for a dedicated DAM solution rather than an ECM that can do DAM with plugins and configuration, Alfresco may not necessarily be the most straightforward option. If you’re sold on the Alfresco ECM platform for other reasons and want to leverage your investment then it represents a good choice.
Embedded Metadata
http://forge.alfresco.com/projects/iptc-exif/
http://forge.alfresco.com/projects/xmp/
Proxy Processing
http://forge.alfresco.com/projects/thumbnails/
The above were kindly bought to our attention by Ray Gauss II, CTO of RightsAssist, LLC who also developed the components.
In addition Integrated Semantics produce an AIR based RIA client for Alfresco which also integrates some DAM functionality such as proxy generation. More details are available on the Alfresco forum.
Conclusion
As should be clear to readers, there are now a wide range of choices available in the open source DAM market and options to suit the majority of different needs. Over the forthcoming months, we intend to revisit this list and provide further detail on each of the products presented as well as new entrants to the market.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the mention of FlexSpaces + AIR RIA client for Alfresco. (Also have a Flex non AIR in browser version of FlexSpaces) Plan to add more DAM features to FlexSpaces and maybe have a DAM specific version. (Note: company name is Integrated Semantics, not Integrated Dynamics)
FlexSpaces also supports LIveCycle Content Services ES2. CMIS Spaces, based on FlexSpaces, supports any repository with CMIS APIs (Alfresco, EMC Documentum, IBM FileNet, Nuxeo, Day Software CRX, etc.)
Steve, thanks for the feedback, the company name has been corrected.