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Linux and Open Source

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols & Paula Rooney

SugarCRM launches express edition that comes with onsite and cloud accounts

By | May 4, 2009, 12:42pm PDT

SugarCRM has introduced an express edition and with it a two-for-one deal that includes an on-site software account and cloud account for one low price. 

And it’s a good one: $7 per user per month. The express edition is based on the community edition, which, of course is free, but the express edition comes with additional services s well as commercial support.

The Professional Edition is priced at $30 per user per month and Enterprise Edition is $50 per user per month.

SugarCRM launched the Express edition on April 29. 

 ”There’s been a big disconnect between the community edition and the pro edition in cost but we’re at a point where we could launch a mass market product,” said SugarCRM CEO John Roberts, noting that ther four-year-old open source multinational company has a mature code base and employs 160 people. “Before the cost went from zero per month to $30 per month and now it’s zero per month to seven dollars per month to $30 or $50 per month. We needed a product that fills the gap between community edition and pro edition.”

The Express edition gives users the code and functionality including a module builder to create custom modules and cloud connectors to integrate  third-party data services from companies such as Hoover’s and Jigsaw.

Sugar Express is offered as an annual subscription at $499 for up to five users or $799 for up to ten users per year, the Cupertino, calif., company announced. 

SugarCRM built out its internal cloud much like Amazon and Wikipaedia, using the Linux grid. It has offered on demand services for three years. 

The two-for-one deal — which gives mainstream users and SMB companies a $7 per user per month subscription for on-site use and a cloud account  – also represents a hardware savings since customers don’t have two servers for different services.

“Why have SugarCRM and Sugar On Demand as two separate products? We say you can have both for the price of one. You get an on demand and on site account at the same time and that’s unlike any other CRM vendor out there,” Roberts said. 

“The net net is a convergence of on demand and on site products represents twice the value for a lower price,” ” Roberts added. 

Roberts also noted that the company’s Sugar Open Cloud puts the customers in control of the software and the flexibility that allows them to customize on the cloud as well as on site. 

“We’re bringing the method of open source to the cloud. Sugar Open Cloud preserves the attributes of open source where the customer is in control.”

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Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for almost two decades.

Disclosure

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney owns no stock in the companies that she covers. She holds a 401K that is managed by Morgan Stanley.

Biography

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney has covered the software and technology industry for more than 20 years, starting with semiconductor design and mini-computer systems at EDN News and later focused on PC software companies including Microsoft, Lotus, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell and other open source and commercial software companies for CRN and PCWeek. She received a silver award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2005 for her profile on Linus Torvalds and edited and co-authored "Partnering With Microsoft," a book about Microsoft's channel published by CMP Publishing in 2004. Rooney graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1997. In her off time, she enjoys scuba diving, sailing, sun worshipping, running, reading, surfing (the net) and hanging out with her family. She resides on the shores of Scituate, Massachusetts.

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RE: SugarCRM launches express edition that comes with onsite and cloud accounts
tw0ng01 29th Jul 2009
I still think that paying up front $500 for a lite edition or $1800 for a pro edition is a lot of money for a small business.

Why don't they just have a monthly bill and no minimum users. Make it more flexible. No wonder why they cannot make enough sales.

I think the idea of open source is have free software or at least free software/paid support. But when you start adding a whole bunch of corporate policies, the model just doesn't work.
0 Votes
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Not worth it...
wtfnix 4th May 2009
I have tested, implemented for multiple clients, and this solution is not a solution, it's a guessing game for a newbie if the have NO CLUE what they are doing, it's like an overpriced Microsoft Vista that you can find on TPB...

My opinion it's simply not worth it, if you need a CRM I recommend, just listen to your clients and do what they need! happy Simple as that and not another worry would you say?
Sugar CRM system is cool. I prefer it over the other expensive CRM's because it is easy to understand and quite reasonable priced. Hire a Virtual Assistant
SplendidCRM has been offering a Community Live service for almost 6 months, but our minimum is 1 user and we don't charge you 12 months in advance.
0 Votes
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Why hold how many seats??? Does every Microsoft software endorsed company NOT believe in OPEN SEATS? If you are allowing a nix server to use your software, I would really like to see that you companies start understanding that OPEN SOURCE servers, should also mean OPEN SEAT software as well... (Since you are using the MONO Project)

Anyhow back to the drawing board, I guess I'll have to build me one and sell it for five bones with OPEN SEATS to boot.

wtfnix.com
I still think that paying up front $500 for a lite edition or $1800 for a pro edition is a lot of money for a small business.

Why don't they just have a monthly bill and no minimum users. Make it more flexible. No wonder why they cannot make enough sales.

I think the idea of open source is have free software or at least free software/paid support. But when you start adding a whole bunch of corporate policies, the model just doesn't work.

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