LONDON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Canonical Ltd, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, today announced the availability of Sugar Open Source for users of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS edition (Long Term Support). The simplified deployment process and ease-of-use of Ubuntu, combined with SugarCRM's feature-rich business processes, will enable companies to build better customer relationships at a lower cost.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS is freely available, including security updates for five years on servers, with no restrictions on usage. Businesses can easily download and install Sugar from the Ubuntu repository benefiting from the integration that Canonical and SugarCRM have developed.

"Partnering with SugarCRM enables us to combine the stability and ease-of-use of Ubuntu with the leading open source CRM solution, ensuring enterprise customers get the low-cost and robust solution they demand," said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu.

By providing world-class features and functionality, SugarCRM is a driving force in the commercial adoption of open source applications. Sugar Open Source, the market leading commercial open source CRM application, delivers a feature-rich set of business tools and processes that manage marketing, sales, support, collaboration and reporting activities. SugarCRM's Web 2.0 architecture and AJAX-enabled user interface offers companies the most flexible and customisable solution in the customer relationship management market. Sugar Open Source has been translated into over 50 languages and over 300 extensions have been built to enhance and extend the application.

"Demand for Ubuntu is growing rapidly among SugarCRM customers who require enterprise-level performance and reliability when running Sugar. Ubuntu offers a great user experience and vibrant community that complements SugarCRM's open source project," said John Roberts, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of SugarCRM.

Worldwide commercial support, for Ubuntu deployments where the assurance of a Service Level Guarantee (SLG) is required, is available directly from Canonical's Global Support Services team. Support for SugarCRM is available directly from SugarCRM at http://www.sugarcrm.com/.

About Canonical Ltd and Ubuntu

Canonical Ltd, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, is a global organisation headquartered in Europe committed to the development, distribution and support of open source software products and communities. World-class 24x7 commercial support for Ubuntu is available through Canonical's global support team and partners. Since its launch in October 2004 Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users around the world. Ubuntu will always be free to download, free to use and free to distribute to others. With these goals in mind, Ubuntu aims to be the most widely used Linux system, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem.

Download Ubuntu from http://www.ubuntu.com/download. To learn about commercial support for Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu, please see http://www.canonical.com/support. For more information visit http://www.canonical.com/ or http://www.ubuntu.com/.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and their associated logos are all registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM is the world's leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software for companies of all sizes. SugarCRM's Sugar Suite easily adapts to any business environment by offering a more flexible, cost-effective alternative than proprietary applications. SugarCRM's open source architecture allows companies to more easily customize and integrate customer-facing business processes in order to build and maintain more profitable relationships. SugarCRM offers several deployment options, including on-demand, on-premise and appliance-based solutions to suit customers' security, integration and configuration needs. For more information, call (408) 454-6900 or 1 87 SUGARCRM toll free in the US, email contact@sugarcrm.com, or visit http://www.sugarcrm.com/.

SugarCRM Inc; Ubuntu

CONTACT: Christina Armstrong, Communications Manager of Canonical Ltd,
+44 (0) 207 590 2551 or Christina.Armstrong@canonical.com; or Tara Spalding,
VP Corporate Marketing of SugarCRM Inc, +1-408-454-6925 or Tara@sugarcrm.com

Web site: http://www.sugarcrm.com/
http://www.canonical.com/
http://www.canonical.com/support
http://www.ubuntu.com/
http://www.ubuntu.com/download