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Ektron Unveils Ektron 8.5 Web Content Management Platform

mike-johnston Profile

Ektron today announced a major upgrade to the company's flagship software. Ektron 8.5 is the most significant release in Ektron’s history, empowering a new level of developer productivity and enterprise scalability, wrapped in a new, sleek user interface.

“We’ve taken extensive feedback from our customers and partners and have delivered a release that radically transforms the developer experience with Ektron,” said Bill Rogers, Ektron CEO and founder. “Ektron is privileged to service some of the largest companies in the world, and 8.5 sets the standard for enterprise scalability with key new components including a 3-tier architecture and new search platform.”

“As a long standing Ektron partner, n-tara is pleased with Ektron’s developer focus with the release of Ektron 8.5,” said Jeff Morris, co-founder and CTO of n-tara interactive. “The development team at n-tara is excited about using the new developer-oriented features in 8.5, including the new Framework API and .NET 4.0 support.  Ektron 8.5 is a transformative release for Ektron and we can’t wait to start deploying it for our clients. ”

“Anyone who is developing web content really needs to look into Ektron 8.5,” said Clinton Porter, Commercial Director, Nvisage, one of the leading Ektron developer partners in Europe. “The new Microsoft Search service really puts Ektron into a whole new realm for developers to craft tools such as ‘find as you type’ search.  Altogether, 8.5 is a major advancement for Ektron developers and their clients.”

Jonathan Tonberg, Chief Technology Officer at Ektron Elite partner, Realise Digital, noted, “The new, 3-tier architecture in Ektron 8.5 really helps Ektron fit into our clients’ infrastructure and corporate strategies.”

In addition to the developer-focused features, Ektron 8.5 includes a new user interface, designed to provide Ektron users with a modern, intuitive and fun user experience.

“One of the challenges Valassis consumer brands such as RedPlum™ face is how to engage on-line consumers with entertaining content such as our SweetFinds™ Deal of the Day,” said Brian Costello, General Manager and Vice President for Digital Strategy and The RedPlum Network for Valassis.  “The new, intuitive interface in Ektron 8.5 helps our editors focus their creative energies on content creation.”

Highlights of Ektron 8.5 include:

  • New Workarea: A redesign of the Workarea interface for a modern, intuitive user experience.
  • Expanded developer API:  The Ektron Framework API radically improves developer productivity through a highly consistent and discoverable set of functions and methods.  When combined with new support for Microsoft LINQ, developers can now design websites with a fraction of the code it took to accomplish the same work in the past.
  •  3-tier architecture: Ektron is the first enterprise .NET web content management vendor to deliver a 3-tier architecture.  In a 3-tier configuration, no Ektron software exists in the web tier, meaning CIOs and IT architects looking for maximum scalability, reliability, and security can now deploy Ektron in a manner consistent with enterprise software deployments.
  • .NET 4.0 support:  8.5 supports .NET 4.0, including support for Microsoft® Visual Studio® Web Application projects.
  • Enhanced search capabilities:  Now based on the Microsoft Search Server, Ektron Site Search  brings new features including faceted navigation, dynamic search relevancy tuning, federated search, automated query suggestions, search analytics reports, and more. Ektron Site Search  offers massive scalability, scaling to tens of millions of items and beyond, including all types of web content, Microsoft Office documents and rich media content.
  • eSync enhancements:  Ektron’s unique synchronization technology now includes a diagnostic utility to generate a real-time map of an eSync network, providing real time visibility into a server topology.

The feature-complete Release Candidate build of 8.5 is available for download now at ektron.com, with final release targeted for September 2011.

About Ektron

Ektron’s web content management (WCM) platform simplifies the creation, management and delivery of multi-channel customer experiences for global organizations that are looking to engage with customers online.  Ektron speeds time-to-web, drives business outcomes, and builds customer loyalty through software that powers corporate websites, intranet portals, and social communities.  Ektron goes beyond traditional WCM, putting the power of the entire customer lifecycle, from acquisition through conversion and retention, into the hands of your marketing and web teams so that customers continuously receive relevant, fresh content. Headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire, with offices in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, Ektron has more than 8,000 customers worldwide including: The Home Depot, Kodak, Microsoft, NASDAQ and National Health Services UK. For more information, please visit www.ektron.com.