In response to the growing demand for their open source solutions in the Japanese market, SugarCRM announced today, as part of a special strategic partnership with CareBrains Inc., they would be providing CareBrains partners with access to their partner program benefits.

 

With this, the partners will be given access to resell rights to commercial versions of Sugar, localized sales and marketing tools and Japanese language pack access, a news release noted.

 

CareBrains provides open source software application consulting, implementation, training and support.

 

Sugar Open Source's popularity was recognized when they announced 1 million worldwide downloads in 2006. They have 1,000 commercial open source customers--120 of which are in Japan and Asia.

 

With open source, companies of all sizes are offered a cost effective, flexible alternative to proprietary applications. Utilizing SugarCRM's software helps better customer relationships and business performance.

 

Commenting on the strategic partnership, Hire Matsushits, CEO of CareBrains Inc. said in a statement, "Sugar has stressed from early on their strong interest in providing Japan-specific products and services. CareBrains is focused on helping our customers as pragmatically as possible. We believe Sugar is an exceptional way for our customers to save time and money when implementing CRM."

 

According to a news release, "SugarCRM continues to increase its commercial open source application" and "has over 300 extensions and other enhancements contributed by its global open source development community, with Japan playing an extremely prominent role."

 

The new partner programs, the J- Gold, Silver and Bronze programs will be available to systems integrators, ASP providers, and others interested in SugarCRM's offerings.

 

 

 

 

***Want the latest scoop on all things VoIP? Make sure you attend INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo East, January 23-26, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While you’re waiting for the show to start, check out Rich Tehrani’s analysis of the communications industry in 2007.