New Ektron Program Helps Partners Create Demand For Web Site Design And Development Services

Ektron Inc., an innovator in Web content management software, today announced the company introduced a new Ektron Partner Program for Web design and development firms, interactive agencies and systems integrators delivering interactive Web sites. The program is designed to help create demand for their services, enhance the customer experience with expanded sale and implementation support, grow revenue for both Ektron and its partners and make it easier to be an active participant in Ektron's growing community.

In the past, many of the companies offering Web site design, deployment and management services have installed their own custom content management tools as alternatives to out-of-the-box systems, but lately, there has been a shift in best practices and project methodology. These firms no longer want to invest time and resources into maintaining homegrown applications and the associated documentation and training. Web technology is advancing so rapidly that the time required to develop robust feature sets is cost prohibitive. Customers also are much more aware of the Web content capabilities available and are asking for them.

"Our customers frequently request partners who can customize and extend Ektron CMS400.NET to create Web sites that let them do exactly what they want on the Web. In response, our existing partner network grew by more than 120 percent," said George Rassias, vice president of sales, Ektron. "That rapid expansion created a need for a highly beneficial program of services and incentives for firms standardizing their Web site creation and management practices around CMS400.NET. What makes our program unique in our market, though, is Ektron doesn't compete with its partners for professional services - our partners are our professional services team."

Coming into 2006, industry analysts are predicting many companies will undertake Web site redesign projects to take advantage of newer, more interactive technologies. To help its partners meet the anticipated demand, Ektron's Partner Program includes three levels of involvement determined by sales volume, revenue and commitment. Benefits, which escalate as partners progress through the tiers, include:

• Special incentives for adopting CMS400.NET, Ektron's all-in-one platform for rapidly creating, deploying and managing interactive Web, extranet and intranet sites
• Basic and advanced best practices training, courseware and a new developer certification
• Mutual support for sales opportunities
• Joint marketing and communications
• Access to a new partner portal stocked with marketing, sales and training resources and the Ektron Dev Center supporting and connecting Web designers and developers using Ektron CMS400.NET

"The new Ektron Partner Program strengthens the way Ektron supports its partner network," said David Clarke, managing partner, BGT Partners, a global professional services consulting firm servicing the Global 2000. "Ektron's always a step ahead in anticipating the needs of developers and end users, maintaining its industry leadership by providing users with a user friendly toolset to develop rich and robust Web sites. This new program will enable us to tap into Ektron's wealth of knowledge and more fully leverage the benefits of its solutions. Fundamentally, the Partner Program allows us to increase our focus and ability to effectively sell our core competencies in content management and systems integration."

Andy Martin, president, Square Root Solutions, a full service media agency and Ektron partner since 2000, said, "What originally attracted us to Ektron was its WYSIWYG editor, eWebEditPro, but what keeps us is its world-class Web content management system, as well as its service, support and people. Every interaction we've had has been positive. Ektron understands what we do and provides us with compelling products so we can focus on giving our clients the services they need for their Web-based communication projects."

About Ektron
Ektron is a market and technology leader in cost-effective Web content management and authoring tools. The company's innovative software solution, Ektron CMS400.NET, gives medium to large organizations all the tools they need to rapidly create, deploy and manage their Web sites, extranets and intranets in a single application. Non-technical users can easily author and publish content, documents, images and forms, while Webmasters and developers have the features they need to ensure consistent look-and-feel and optimize site operation. Using Ektron CMS400.NET's advanced registration capabilities, organizations offer their site visitors more personalized, interactive communication that keeps them coming back. Ektron is headquartered in Amherst, N.H., and has more than 15,000 customer implementations worldwide, including Unilever, Intel and Pfizer. For more information, visit www.ektron.com.