On January 27, 2015, the news broke that Episerver and Ektron, which had both recently been purchased by the same private equity firm, were going to merge into one company, with Episerver being the dominant brand. This is an exciting development in the CMS world, with the combination of these two top platforms providing plenty of speculation about the future of the combined company.
But what does this mean for websites which currently utilize one of these platforms? Episerver has stressed that the merger will protect the investments that customers and partners have made in both platforms, but their customers still have plenty of questions and concerns about the future. While we don't have any inside information about exactly what will happen, we have worked with both companies for several years, so we wanted to offer our thoughts in response to some of the questions that are being asked:
Will I Be Able To Upgrade My Ektron Website Moving Forward?
We anticipate that Episerver will continue to release security updates and patches for the Ektron brand for at least the next year, ensuring that your site will remain functional and secure. However, at this point in time, we do not expect that additional features and functionality will be released alongside these patches.
Will New Features Be Added To the Ektron Product?
Since Episerver is going to be the dominant brand going forward, we anticipate that there will be no new features added to the Ektron brand. Instead, any new CMS functionality will be added under the Episerver brand. In our years of working with CMS-driven websites, we've gained an in-depth understanding of the technology behind these platforms, and we expect that a handful of core Ektron product offerings, such as eSync and possibly the Digital Experience Hub, will be added under the Episerver brand.
Will I Get Support for My Ektron Site From Ektron or Episerver?
Currently, Ektron support is functioning as usual through the normal channels. However, we expect that support will migrate over to the Episerver brand in the coming months.
How Will This Affect Annual License Renewals?
Episerver's handling of license fees and renewals is still to be determined. However, it is probable that Ektron customers will be able to leverage their existing investment in the Ektron CMS under the Episerver brand. The licensing models for the two platforms are very different, so how Episerver manages licensing for the combined brands has not yet been announced. We will be sure to monitor their announcements and keep you informed.
Does Episerver Only Work in the Cloud?
No. Episerver has on-premises licensing models as well as cloud-based SaaS models. We anticipate that any Ektron websites that are hosted on-premises will have the option to move to the cloud or remain on-premises.
Am I Going to Have to Rebuild My Website?
In the short term, the answer to this question is no. We expect that both platforms will continue to release patches to ensure that websites remain functional and secure. The long term, however, is a different story. The eventual long-term upgrade path from Ektron to Episerver remains to be seen. Based on our understanding of the platforms and the historical nature of CMS mergers, Episerver will become the dominant CMS product.
For Ektron customers, this eventual upgrade from Ektron to Episerver will most likely require their website to be programatically redeveloped in order to take advantage of all available feature sets.
For Episerver customers, we anticipate that since Episerver is the dominant brand, a website rebuild will not be necessary. Instead, keeping abreast of normal continuous release cycles will be all that is required.
Looking Toward the Future
While the Episerver-Ektron merger is a huge shakeup in the CMS world, it presents exciting opportunities for websites which utilize either platform. Each CMS website has a unique set of business requirements, and the ongoing strategy for meeting these requirements is going to be different for each company. Hopefully, the combination of the Episerver and Ektron platforms means that more of benefits and functionalities offered by both platforms will be available to users, allowing you to make the most of your website and get the best possible ROI. Since Diagram has been a partner with both Episerver and Ektron for years, we are uniquely qualified to provide guidance and expertise throughout this merger, allowing you to get the most out of this combined platform. If you have any questions or concerns about how this merger will affect you, we would be happy to discuss it with you. Please contact us to speak to a Solutions Engineer, and stay tuned as we continue to cover the Episerver-Ektron merger and keep you informed about what you need to know.
