Open Source Solutions

Open source software is the foundation of digital sovereignty — it’s transparent, customisable, and free from vendor lock-in. Alchemilla Ventures helps organisations adopt and succeed with open source technology.

Why Open Source?

Open source has won. Linux dominates servers (96%+ of public cloud runs on Linux). Kubernetes orchestrates containers everywhere. PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB power the world’s data. The question is no longer whether to use open source — it’s how to do it strategically and securely. Our open source practice helps enterprises navigate the vast open source ecosystem with confidence.

Our Open Source Services

• Open Source Strategy & Advisory: We assess your current technology stack and identify opportunities for open source adoption — where can open source reduce costs, improve flexibility, or eliminate vendor dependency? We build an open source adoption roadmap with risk assessment (licence compatibility, community health, security track record) and total cost comparison (free software is not zero cost — support, training, and integration matter).

• Enterprise Linux & Infrastructure: Deploy and manage enterprise Linux distributions — Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu Server, Debian, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux. We handle hardening (CIS benchmarks), patch management, automation with Ansible, and integration with your identity (AD/LDAP) and monitoring systems. For enterprises with existing RHEL deployments, we provide migration paths to free rebuilds (Rocky/Alma) if licence costs are a concern.

• Open Source Databases: Design, deploy, and manage PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, and Redis — from single instances to high-availability clusters with replication, automatic failover (Patroni, Orchestrator), and backup (pgBackRest, WAL-G). Our DBAs provide performance tuning, migration from commercial databases (Oracle, SQL Server), and 24/7 managed support.

• Open Source DevOps & Observability: Build complete DevOps toolchains with open source tools:

• CI/CD: GitLab CE, Jenkins, Gitea + Drone, ArgoCD

• Container Registry: Harbor, GitLab Container Registry

• Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager

• Logging: Loki, Elasticsearch (OpenSearch), Fluentd

• Tracing: Jaeger, OpenTelemetry

• These tools provide capabilities comparable to commercial offerings (Datadog, New Relic, Splunk) at a fraction of the cost for enterprises.

• Open Source Identity & Access Management: Implement Keycloak, Authentik, or FreeIPA for SSO, MFA, and identity federation — replacing or augmenting Azure AD, Okta, or Ping. Our IAM engineers configure SAML/OIDC integration with your applications, LDAP/AD synchronisation, and self-service user portals.

• Open Source Collaboration & Productivity: Deploy Nextcloud (file sync & share), ONLYOFFICE or Collabora (online document editing), Mattermost or Rocket.Chat (team messaging), Jitsi (video conferencing), and BigBlueButton (virtual classrooms). These provide Google Workspace/Microsoft 365 alternative capabilities for organisations with strict data residency requirements — all data stays on your servers.

• Open Source ERP & Business Applications: Implement Odoo (ERP/CRM), ERPNext (manufacturing-focused — very popular in SME sector), SuiteCRM, OrangeHRM, and other open source business applications. Our team customises these platforms for business requirements — invoicing, e-way bills,, multi-currency, and regional language support.

• Open Source Security & Compliance: Deploy Wazuh (SIEM/XDR), OpenVAS/Greenbone (vulnerability scanning), OWASP ZAP (web app security testing), pfSense/OPNsense (firewall), and Vault or OpenBao (secrets management). Open source security tools provide enterprise-grade protection without the licence costs of commercial alternatives.

Open Source Stack by Enterprise Function

Function	Open Source	Replaces
Server OS	RHEL, Ubuntu, Rocky Linux, Debian	Windows Server (reduced licences)
Database	PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB	Oracle, SQL Server
Kubernetes	Rancher RKE2, K3s, OpenShift	EKS/AKS (on-premise alternative)
CI/CD	GitLab CE, Jenkins, ArgoCD	GitHub Enterprise, CircleCI
Monitoring	Prometheus + Grafana + Loki	Datadog, Splunk, New Relic
IAM	Keycloak, Authentik, LDAP	Okta, Azure AD Premium
Collaboration	Nextcloud, Mattermost, Jitsi	Google Workspace, Teams, Zoom
ERP	Odoo, ERPNext	SAP, Oracle EBS, Microsoft Dynamics
Firewall	pfSense, OPNsense	Fortinet, Palo Alto (appliance)
SIEM	Wazuh, Elastic Security	Splunk Enterprise Security

Open Source Considerations

• Government Preference: the Policy on Open Source Software mandates that government organisations prioritise open source in e-governance projects. Our team helps government departments and PSUs implement compliant open source solutions.
• SME Adoption: Open source ERPNext and Odoo are transforming SMEs — manufacturers , traders in Coimbatore, service providers in Madurai — giving them ERP capabilities previously accessible only to large enterprises.
• Education: Open source Moodle (LMS), BigBlueButton (virtual classrooms), and Kolibri (offline learning) support the education technology needs, especially where government schools are adopting digital learning.
• Language Support: We customise and contribute to Hindi, and language localisation for open source platforms, enabling broader adoption.

Open source is not just about saving money — it’s about freedom, transparency, and digital sovereignty. Contact our open source team to assess your open source adoption opportunities.