Since eZ's inception, we have based our business on Open Source software to serve two categories of users: those who want to spend time to save money and those who want to spend money to save time. This is what we call the Enterprise Open Source business model.
With the advent of eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium, this has not changed. Instead, we have extended our product offerings and enhanced our business model. Both solutions are 100% based on eZ Publish Open Source software and will help us to further extend and optimize that same Open Source software. The community will benefit from new features funded by paying customers and customers will benefit from a stable and predictable software thanks to our community's involvement.
At eZ, we distinguish between Open Source software and business solutions. Our flagship Open Source software is eZ Publish. Our flagship business solutions are eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium. Our business solutions bundle 100% Open Source software with 100% support by eZ Systems and certified partners.
We call eZ Publish Now "ready-to-run Enterprise Content Management" because it is a standard ECM solution that is quick to set up and easy to use. It combines the Open Source eZ Publish ECM with an intuitive front-end editing interface and a suite of support and upgrade services for a fixed price. eZ Publish Now is the perfect choice for customers with standard needs, because its out-of-the-box functionality is sufficient for most ECM scenarios. In fact, eZ Publish Now's usability was recently awarded the cmf2006 WebIdol Award.
eZ Publish Premium is what we call "tailor-made Enterprise Content Management", because it allows for individualized ECM solutions. It is also based on the Open Source eZ Publish ECM. However, instead of combining it with standardized services, it is bundled with premium services such as custom extensions and integration development, key account management and 24/7 support. Our expertise in the field of individual ECM solutions was recently awarded the BNP CMS and Portal Benchmark Analysis Leader Award 2006/2007 in the category of customization.
The table below lets you compare our Open Source offering with our business solutions:
| I can do everything by myself | I need a professional solution but I do not have the competence to do it myself, nor the budget or time for a custom project | I want a custom enterprise-grade solution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation and configuration | Download, install, configure and customize the software yourself | Buy a turn-key solution; we install and configure it for your needs | Have us guide you through the entire project lifecycle to guarantee the success of your tailor-made solution |
| Maintenance | Maintain, update, and upgrade the software yourself | Get automatic updates and upgrades, together with guarantees, making sure your solution is always updated and secure | Define a custom maintenance program of updates, upgrades and guarantees making sure your solution is always updated and secure |
| Support | Use your own resources for support and take on the risk yourself | Choose the level of support you need, up to 24/7 instant support | Get a custom enterprise support and maintenance plan |
| Price | Your time is your investment | A yearly subscription at a reasonable price providing very high value for money | Individual price based on your feature needs |
| How to buy | Download directly from ez.no and go! | Only provided by eZ Systems and certified partners; buy online or contact sales to get set up right away | Only provided by eZ Systems and certified partners; contact sales to discuss your needs |
| Open Source software | "Now" business solutions | "Premium" business solutions | |
| Products |
Let me address the concerns that some of you might have when you hear about our commercial solutions and wonder whether we have turned proprietary.
We are as much Open Source as we have always been. To say it in the words of the FSF's Free Software Definition:
"Free software" does not mean non-commercial. A free program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, and commercial distribution. Commercial development of free software is no longer unusual; such free commercial software is very important.
As a company, we are of course commercial, needing to make money, and that's why we offer free commercial software. The code base of the two business solutions, eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium, is the same as in the GPL-licensed eZ Publish. The only difference is that we sell eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium (with services) while the eZ Publish software is only available for download (for do-it-yourself customers).
We are happy to make code Open Source that has been developed especially for business solutions and to include this code in our Open Source software distribution. For example, the freely available eZ Publish 3.9 release includes (under the GPL license) the new easy-to-use front-end initially developed for eZ Publish Now. We have even gone one step further to finish the process of making all our software Open Source. After having open-sourced the eZ Online Editor, we will soon release the eZ Database Extension, including the Oracle connector as well as the Paynet Gateway, under the GPL. At that time, all of our software will be Open Source.
We believe in freedom of choice. Therefore, eZ Publish has a dual license model that gives you options. You can choose between the eZ Proprietary Use License (eZPUL) and the GPL (the Open Source license you get with the free download). The eZPUL is a simple and traditional license for small to large enterprises who desire non-GPL licensing. It is a traditional for-pay, proprietary license for an end user of eZ Publish.
If you're Open Source, eZ Publish is Open Source; if you're commercial, eZ Publish is commercial. As long as you contribute back to the community by using our software according to its Open Source license, you don't pay for the software. Should you wish to protect your code in a proprietary manner, then you need to pay. The money we get from you will help us to further develop our Open Source software.
The differentiation between eZ Publish, eZ Publish Now, and eZ Publish Premium allows us to clearly address the needs of our three major user groups.
With eZ Publish Now, we have introduced a novel ECM product that gets our customers up and running in a few minutes for a fraction of the price that you would expect to pay. eZ Publish Now is based on the belief that users of ECM solutions will profit from standardization and commoditization. By providing an Open Source alternative with eZ Publish, we have already proven that investment costs can be significantly reduced. With the release of eZ Publish Now, we are taking it further by adding reliable services on top of the software. This keeps maintenance costs low and predictable.
With eZ Publish Premium, we continue to offer custom services for individual ECM solutions, tailored to specific needs via a custom service level agreement covering the whole product lifecycle.
For do-it-yourself customers, we also provide some general services and knowledge resources, such as training and books.
The new product offerings from eZ Systems, comprising the business solutions eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium, have extended as well as focused our business in the realm of our Enterprise Open Source model. We now provide specific business solutions for Enterprise Content Management where customers can wholeheartedly rely on eZ Systems or certified partners, be it for a ready-to-run or a tailor-made solution.
Additionally, we have made sure that our Open Source software stack is continually being improved by including code initially developed for business solutions. Furthermore, we are releasing all of our code under an Open Source license.
This way, business customers can continue to benefit from Open Source ECM products provided by eZ Systems: software that is stable, reliable, interoperable and easy to use.