SugarCRM Inc., the provider of commercial open source customer relationship management software, announced the beta release of Sugar 5.0, the fastest- growing CRM solution in the market today. Sugar 5.0 introduces innovative features across four key areas: Platform, CRM Functionality, On-Demand Architecture and Community Development.

"We chose Sugar because it reduces risk for our company and our customers," said BJ Lackland, Chief Financial Officer of Power Efficiency Corporation, a green energy technology company focused on electric motor efficiency. "Our ability to move from Sugar On-Site to Sugar On-Demand overnight demonstrates Sugar's flexibility and responsiveness to customer needs." Sugar 5.0 introduces a broad range of new functionality, including capabilities that allow users to build custom modules, a new AJAX e-mail client and a state-of-the-art 'Multi-Instance On-Demand' architecture.

"This release allows customers to break away from the predatory lock-in of proprietary CRM vendors," said John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM. "Sugar 5.0 expands the proven Sugar platform with advanced CRM functionality, on-the-fly module creation, and a new On-Demand architecture to help our thousands of users become even more successful."

"Sugar 5.0 delivers the CRM platform and features that will differentiate us from the competition," said Jorge Teixeira da Silva, Customer Service Manager at UZO, the mobile arm of Portugal Telecom, a seven-billion-dollar multinational telecommunications conglomerate with operations in Europe, Africa and Latin America. "SugarCRM's commitment to innovation and quality gives us the chance to rethink how to best manage our most important asset - our customers."

Sugar 5.0's range of platform upgrades enhance the ability to build, customize, scale and upgrade the application. Key functionality enhancements include:
- New Module Builder enables users to build custom modules from scratch, or combine existing or custom objects into a brand-new CRM module. For example, recruiters might create a 'Recruiting' module by combining a custom object for employment candidates with the existing 'Contacts' view to better manage the hiring process. Or, a financial planner could create a 'Client Details' custom module that reveals personalized information about each client for better management and follow-up of client relationships.
- New Metadata Driven User Interface (UI) stores customizations in a metadata repository. The Metadata Driven UI combines the benefits of custom CRM with the ability to easily incorporate new features in future releases.
- Improved Access Control offers better support for team hierarchies and access control functions that manage and protect information at the field level.

Following the release of Multi-Channel Marketing, Project Management, Knowledge Base and Customer Self-Service Portal earlier this year, Sugar 5.0 introduces the following functionality:
- Improved Dashboards with new charting capabilities, including support for funnel and pie charts, line and bar graphs and performance-gauge chart objects.
- New AJAX E-mail Client delivers the functionality of a desktop e-mail Client with the portability of a Web-based e-mail application. The new E-mail Client features tight integration with Sugar's Sales Force Automation functionality, and offers state-of-the-art design, including drag-and-drop, search, keyboard shortcuts, rules wizard, and support for folders, contacts and personal inboxes. Interoperability with all leading e-mail servers allows the E-mail Client to complement or replace existing e-mail clients.
- Multiple Dashboards on Homepage allow users to access any number of pre- or custom-built dashboards from their homepage. Users can easily add, edit, share, rearrange or remove dashboards with a few simple clicks.