Whether you call it “enterprise 2.0” or “social business,” one thing is for certain: you’re going to need at least some tools to implement it. SaaS delivery models are all the rage for enterprise social media companies, but not every organization is ready to store its data in the public cloud. Several vendors offer its products as on-premise, installable software or virtual appliances. Others take a different route: a managed appliance. Blogtronix, Socialtext and Yakabod all offer on-premise, physical appliances that can be dropped into a rack and used right away. The goal is to combine the convenience of SaaS with the security of an on-premise solution.
Blogtronix
Blogtronix doesn’t advertise it on its website, but the company does offer an appliance solution. According to CEO Vassil Mladjov the company custom builds each appliance based on the customer’s needs and to keep up with ever-changing hardware issues.
Blogtronix has all the usual enterprise 2.0 features: wikis, microblogging, activity streams, profiles and more. According to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace 2009 report, Blogtronix has good traction in the financial industry – a sector where security is extremely important.
Socialtext
Socialtext is probably a familiar name to ReadWriteWeb readers. It was one of the very first vendors in the enterprise 2.0 space, and claims to be the first enterprise-ready wiki. Since its launch in 2002 it has filled out its product offering with blogging, microblogging and its integration mechanism Socialtext Connect.
Socialtext has the advantage of being approved by the U.S. General Services Administration for use by government agencies.
Yakabod
The oddly named, Frederick, MD-based company Yakabod is relatively unknown in commercial cirlces but with the intelligence community it’s a different story. In true intelligence circle style, CEO Scott Ryser says he can’t disclose the names of Yakabod’s customers. However, Gartner seems to have vetted the company for its Cool Vendors in the High-Performance Workplace 2010 report. Yakabod claims its Yakabox appliance appliance meets PL-3 and Annex E security requirements.
Yakabox has all the usual enterprise 2.0 features, including what every spook wants out of a knowledge sharing system: an iPhone app.
