Alfresco Launches Global Partner Network to Support Rapidly Expanding Deployment of Enterprise Content Management Solutions; 25 Partners Join Program, Further Driving Open Source Ecosystem Momentum around Alfresco.

LONDON -- Alfresco Software Inc., the first provider of an open source enterprise content management solution, today announced the Alfresco Partner Network Program to help organizations market, configure, customize and implement solutions leveraging Alfresco software for customers worldwide. More than 25 companies are already on board, including those from the USA, Canada, UK, France, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Columbia, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela and Australia. These range from open source software providers to systems integrators, OEM, training and hosting companies. Open source software leaders such as JBoss, MySQL AB, Novell and SugarCRM already have key partner relationships with Alfresco.

"There is a growing recognition that open source alternatives to traditional proprietary software, at all levels of the stack, are quickly gaining momentum," said Dr. Ian Howells, chief marketing officer, Alfresco. "This started at the operating system level with Linux, has moved through to the RDBMS with MySQL and to middleware with JBoss. Our goal is to be a focal point for the community and ecosystem so that customers can maximize the benefits of open source for enterprise content management"

Elaine Pelletier, CEO of Saillant Consulting Group, said: "Saillant has more than a decade of experience working with commercial ECM solutions. Today's market includes many ECM systems based on 1990s technology, so we are excited about Alfresco's fresh, next-generation approach. By leveraging contemporary standards with the power and flexibility of open source, we believe Alfresco solutions provide significantly lower total cost of ownership--exactly what customers are demanding. Furthermore, the Alfresco team brings a progressive perspective that is excellent for partners and customers alike: deliver value (instead of licenses) through open, engineered innovation."

Partners Line Up Behind Alfresco

Alfresco continues to grow its ecosystem with systems integrators, OEMs, hosting and training partners. Companies that have already joined the program include:

--System Integrators--Cignex, Comanaco, CorraTech, Enomaly, Evoltia, Lateral Minds, Lemontech, Mayastec, NeoDoc, Optaros, Rivet Logic, Saillant, SuiteSpot Solutions, TS Group, ukwebworks

--OEM--Aimset, NeoDoc

--Hosting-- Hoike, Siennax

--Training--Cignex, Rivet Logic

Alfresco is also adding to its existing ISV partner ecosystem with key relationships with:

--Technology Partners--BitRock, JBoss, MySQL AB, Novell, SugarCRM, Zend Technologies, 3BView

"2005 will be seen as a turning point for open source with its move to mainstream adoption," said John Roberts, CEO, SugarCRM. "The massive uptake of SugarCRM shows that open source has moved up the stack to the end user level. The time to 100,000 downloads for Alfresco shows that this is not just for CRM but for enterprise content management as well."

Nicolas Pujol, director of alliances for MySQL AB, said: "Content management is an integral part of running large-scale Web sites--so it's important that the MySQL database can be tightly integrated with the leading CMS packages. We applaud Alfresco's efforts to bring the cost and quality benefits of open source to the commercial CMS market."

Companies joining the Alfresco Partner Program will receive a host of technical and marketing information to help their customers better understand and use Alfresco technology or solutions based on it. What's more, they will gain access to the highest levels of senior technical management, enabling them to get easy answers to questions directly from the people who designed and created the core software.

"Novell already has key relationships with JBoss and MySQL," said John Beuchert, global director, Open Source Marketing Programs, Novell. "We see Alfresco being the next logical step to build on the SUSE open source momentum."

About Alfresco

Alfresco is the leading open source alternative for enterprise content management. It is the first company to bring the power of open source to the enterprise content management market, enabling unprecedented scale and a much lower total cost of ownership than proprietary systems. Founded by a team of content management veterans that includes the co-founder of Documentum, John Newton, and former COO of Business Objects, John Powell, Alfresco is based in London. For more information, visit www.alfrescosoftware.com.