• The new Activity Stream displays all changes and updates on tasks, work reports, blogs, documents, photo galleries according to user access rights.
• The “Like” button – messages, documents, and other items can be ‘liked’ in the intranet. More heavily ‘liked’ material can be found more easily, and is placed higher in search results.
• Tasks and Project Management tools are now equipped with Gantt Chart view, integrated with Reports and Time Management tools, and are also available in the Extranet workgroups.
• The new Report Wizard allows creating daily, weekly or monthly reports which can be further analyzed and evaluated by supervisors and department chiefs.
• The fully revised CRM is a huge step forward, with integrated tasks, business processes, calendars, bulk email, and super-flexible access settings.
• Meetings & Briefings is a start-to-finish tool for scheduling meetings, distributing the agenda, approving the minutes, carrying over topics to the next meeting, and follow-up on decisions.
• The mobile version is built in HTML5 and supports Android, iOS, WindowsPhone7. The Activity Stream, employee directory, microblog, documents and tasks are quickly accessible via the mobile intranet.
• Document Library module now has more flexible access rights for files and folders, the “Like” button, and a Mozilla Firefox plugin for direct document editing.
• Back-end Dashboard with multiple Desktops – the Control Panel in the product’s back end now has personalized desktops where chosen gadgets can be arranged as needed.

How to upgrade to version 11.0?

Current Bitrix Intranet owners with active subscription for technical support can upgrade to Version 11.0 at no charge using the SiteUpdate feature in the product. The new version is available for download as a free 30-day trial version (www.bitrixsoft.com/download/intranet.php), or can be tested online using the instant 3-hour demo (www.bitrixsoft.com/products/intranet/demo.php).

Bitrix Cloud Storage

The move to Cloud-based services is undoubtedly a major trend in technology, and support of the system mentioned above, as well as CDN (Content Distribution Network), is critical to Bitrix Site Manager . Bitrix Cloud Storage accelerates uploading of files, which is especially important for multimedia and size-hungry content types. Beyond this, the site owner saves significantly, as Cloud storages are cheaper than space provided by standard hosting.

Managing file distribution rules in Bitrix Cloud Storage

“The average CMS is not a viable method for working in the Cloud. We made modifications throughout our product to make this version a ‘Cloud platform’ for web development which meets the requirements of major Cloud infrastructures. We support the open standard of OpenStack Swift API and encourage hosting companies to develop their own Cloud solutions.” - said Sergey Rizhikov, CEO, Bitrix, Inc.

Project Quality Control

For the majority of developers and clients, a key question in project development is control of the quality of the implementation. Version 11.0 is equipped with a Project Quality Control tool which offers a set of mandatory and supplementary tests that ensure optimal quality of integration of the design, the program’s external environment, security, performance, and hosting settings within the system.

Quality Control test categories

Geo-distributed Web Cluster

The new Geo-distributed Web Cluster module increases project availability and provides independence from a given data center. By enabling installation of the cluster in data centers located in different cities or even countries, the likelihood of a power outage or natural disaster interrupting service approaches zero. If one data center goes down, a replicated server in a different location compensates, with no need to restore a backup. Site performance is also improved by distribution of workload among data centers.

Other important changes and enhancements

Among other remarkable changes made in the product the following are worth mentioning:

• Secure authorization using the RSA algorithm with a 1024-bit key – protection from password theft even in the absence of SSL (for example, free WI-FI hot spots in cafes, airports, etc.);
• Social Search using a unique user influence system to weight content and user ratings;
• Improved search quality with better accounting for spacing and punctuation;
• Automatic Time Zone settings – all dates and times used in news articles, comments, or e-store orders are now shown with respect to the time zone where the user is currently located;
• New Admin Dashboard at the backend of the product now has individually configurable desktops with drag-and-drop gadgets and quick search;
• Significant improvements in the Photo Gallery including two additional themes (skins), a new thumbnail slider, and comments displayed under the original image and in the Live Feed;
• Built-in tool for generating short links right in the front-end;
• Support of Schema.org microformats in the e-Store for better search engine indexing;
• Auto-saving for forms – if there is an interruption before a web form is submitted, the dialog box, when opened the next time, will offer a restored version;
• User interface usability improvements in Forums, Blogs, WYSIWYG Editor, and other features;
• Virtual Appliance 3.0 with Web Cluster support;
• Over 150 additions, improvements, and changes, affecting 33 modules of the product.

How to upgrade to version 11.0?

Current Bitrix Site Manager owners with active subscription for technical support can upgrade to Version 11.0 at no charge using the SiteUpdate feature in the product. The new version is available for download as a free 30-day trial version (www.bitrixsoft.com/download/cms.php), or can be tested online using the instant 3-hour demo (www.bitrixsoft.com/products/cms/demo.php).

As a successful CMS and intranet solution provider, Bitrix is sharing its knowledge about how to choose the right intranet solution. The right choice in an intranet solution can save thousands of dollars in implementation costs, and over the life of the software, the difference will not just be measured in dollars but in productivity, time savings, data security, and much more.

The webinar is scheduled for October 6, 2011, at 11:00 EDT and will include the following topics:

1. The general idea of an intranet / extranet solution and how your company can benefit from it.
2. The difference between intranet solutions and how to choose the right one.
3. The questions of implementation and maintenance costs for your future intranet.
4. Bitrix Intranet solution overview: product architecture, workflow and security standards.
5. Bitrix Intranet implementation examples and case studies.

Anyone wishing to participate must register and reserve their seats: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/767362306

The number of the webinar seats is limited.

Bitrix achieved this level of popularity by setting the standards in performance and security while delivering the power and freedom that professional designers demand. Bitrix provides a variety of product editions that allow these diverse service providers to develop a wide range of web solutions, from simple showcase websites to advanced, multi-language e-stores, massive social networks, mobile web projects and highly secure intranet solutions.

The Bitrix Partner Network includes companies from all inhabited continents, with the greatest density in Europe. The flagship products of Bitrix – Bitrix Site Manager and Bitrix Intranet – are supplied in three languages: English, German, and Russian, and thanks to the work of Bitrix Partners, they can be extended with 8 additional language packs. Partners are also encouraged to develop product extensions and distribute them via the Bitrix Marketplace.

“It is a great advantage for our clients to have such a large network of Bitrix Partners at their disposal. We are really proud to be partnered with over 6,000 professional web-service providers who our clients can trust. Through this network, Bitrix has attained a virtuous cycle where the product is exposed to the full spectrum of market demands from small business to large enterprises and government institutions, allowing us to guide our development in accordance and even in anticipation of this steady stream of information.” — said Sergey Ryzhikov, CEO of Bitrix Inc.

For clients needing assistance in finding the proper project implementer, the Bitrix sales department is able to identify one or a small set of contractors who can bring experience and insight to the project. Geographical proximity is sometimes essential; other times, a Partner working in the same niche is the best option. Having selected a web project developer or a Bitrix product reseller, our clients receive a full range of high-quality services and a guarantee that their Bitrix-based web project will be in good hands.

The Duma’s recently launched website was developed by Intaro, a Bitrix Gold Certified Partner. It features a range of cutting-edge content management technologies, making the website a comprehensive online representation of the parliament, connecting it with the public.

It contains a continuously updated database of nearly 25,000 official parliamentary regulations with custom filters to simplify the discovery of desired information. Beyond that, analytical and research materials which are collected and used by Duma members are made available to the public through the site – thus the rational basis for laws proposed and passed is given much more transparency. Other popular and important features include rich personal profiles of Duma deputies and a special mobile version optimized for viewing the content on mobile devices.

Improving transparency and building effective communications with an online community is further enhanced through web-based TV available on the website. Visitors have the opportunity to watch parliamentary sessions in real-time, choose recorded videos and selected speeches, and get a digest of Duma activity with a video summary of the results of the latest sessions.

The new Duma website made a huge step with social networking. Now it features social bookmarks and links to connect content to popular networks like Facebook and personal blogs seamlessly. The Russian Parliament also launched a dedicated Twitter account (http://twitter.com/dumagovru) that delivers real-time updates for users of this social network. At the same time, parliament members can keep their own blogs, adding extra transparency to the parliamentary procedures.

The website is tightly integrated with no less than nine third-party applications and databases to provide visitors a universal interface for information discovery. The website’s security relies on the Bitrix PRO+PRO™ security framework and is approved by respective governmental authorities to meet internal data security regulations. The website’s content and structure is designed according to Jacob Nielsen’s recommendations depicted in his publications regarding the best web usability practices. The improved usability has resulted in a six-fold decrease in error probability and 30% increase of speed in performing typical website operations.

Thanks to Bitrix Intranet, the intranet project developed for AUTFORCE Automations – GmbH achieved the company’s goals of closer contact with the customers during the execution of each project, creation of a pleasant working atmosphere where both teamwork and independence thrives among employees, and incorportating performance-related pay as a motivating factor for the employees.

Because of the technical requirements involved, the virtual machine from Bitrix was implemented and provided great advantages including rapid launch. Some design changes in the basic Bitrix template were made, and in the e-learning module, adjustments were more substantial.

“With the introduction of the Intranet solution, storage and retrieval of documents has been simplified. Specifically, modifying published documents became much easier. With the help of lists that can be configured to contain a variety of different data types in a single record, we were able to replace our old system of Excel files easily and achieve centralized management. Through user rights, now the viewing or modifying the content of the respective groups is assignable.” – said Oliver Hohnhold, CEO of AUTFORCE Automation – GmbH.

Read the full version of the case study

New technologies and tools incorporated into Bitrix Intranet 10.0 contain:

• Task management 2.0– enhanced tools for tasks and projects with efficiency reports for each employee, departments, and the company on the whole.

• Time management 2.0– features for handling clock in/out, total work time, breaks, absences, cross-platform calendaring,meeting and event planning.

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – manages leads, accounts, and other relationships.

• LiveFeed– unified feed for updates from all sections of the intranet, keeping everyone informed of the latest developments.

• Microblog– internal feature informs colleagues about news, ideas, or facts instantly.

• Document management – new interface, version saving, recycle bin, more network drive options, and detail pages for each document.

• Department intranets– individual departments can now have separate, customized, and integrated versions of the intranet.

• Mobile apps – BitrixMobile technology allows convenient work with the intranet via mobile devices and development of customized apps.

• Integration with Microsoft products– connectors to MS Exchange Server 2007/2010 and MS SharePoint, integration with MS Exchange Web Mail, improved integration with Active Directory and with MS Office.

• Integration with Google products– Google calendars can be shared and synchronized in the intranet with access and modification via Android devices.

• Integration with Apple products– calendar sharing with Mac OS X, iPad, and iPhone including two-way data sharing as well as exporting of contacts from the intranet.

• Web Cluster– the portal can be distributed among multiple servers for greatly enhanced performance, scalability, and reliability.

• New edition:BizPace Enterprise, for organizations with a distributed network of offices and branches.

Highlights in Bitrix Intranet 10.0 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnOXdXNvZ-w
Bitrix Intranet Portal Homepage: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/products/intranet/

Ten new technologies and tools are incorporated into Version 10.0 including:

1. BitrixMobile: for development of mobile sites and apps with support of iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS on the basis of HTML5
2. A ready-made mobile internet shop, created with BitrixMobile technology and an application for one-time passwords (OTP)
3. Web clusters, a complex solution for scalability and reliability of an entire web project (database, search module, etc.), can be applied in high availability (HA) or high performance (HP) configurations
4. Integration with social networks including Facebook, Twitter and Google
5. Sticky web-it notes for simplifying collaborative work in web project creation and content management
6. Instant search with query suggestion
7. Support of SKU in the e-commerce module
8. Rating and influence systems in the social networking module
9. A ready-made InfoPortal for municipalities and media outlets
10. A “Live session” feature, providing a more convenient experience to the daily user

“BitrixMobile and web clusters are the two key technologies in this release. BitrixMobile opens the way for web studios into the market of mobile application, demand for which is growing all the time. Our biggest clients, whose online business is measured in tens of millions of dollars, greatly value the appearance of web clustering technology for solving the critical issues of continuity, scalability and performance,” – emphasized Dmitry Valyanov, President of Bitrix, Inc.

Bitrix Site Manager users with current subscriptions to updates and technical support can implement the appropriate changes in their products using the SiteUpdate feature in the Control Panel.

Bitrix Site Manager Homepage: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/products/cms/

Bitrix Site Manager ASP.NET 5.5 tremendously simplifies website development by offering turnkey websites – a set of ready-to-go design and content templates for corporate, personal, and community websites that are available from inside the regular install wizard.

Like the PHP-version of BSM, site solution structures can be changed at any time, and each has variations in general design and color schemes.

Special emphasis is placed on social tools in the new version: blogs have been greatly improved, as well as forums, personal communications systems and the ratings features.

Under the auspices of Microsoft’s representation company in the Russian Federation, a new project, GotDotNet.Ru , has been launched on the foundation of Bitrix Site Manager ASP.NET. The site is a community for .NET framework developers. Today the site has more than 80,000 visitors, over 2 million forum posts, and more than 10,000 blog entries.

The proactive protection module has been enhanced along with the ORM system. The ORM mechanism allows automation of typical tasks such as saving, filtering and retrieving data from the database. The Proactive Protection module provides heightened security of sites created on the system by means of a built-in web application firewall. The technology used in this module was stress-tested live in at the Chaos Construction convention, where it withstood over 25,000 hack attempts.

Tight integration of Bitrix Site Manager ASP.NET with the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development environment and certification for Microsoft Server 2008 R2 ensures developers and corporate clients a product that will fit in well with their complex information systems and online resources based on the ASP.NET platform.

“We do appreciate the high standard of quality of Bitrix Site Manager ASP.NET, which is a fully developed solution and is constantly improved by the Bitrix team. Using Microsoft .NET technology, this software allows IT developers and content editors to create amazingly sophisticated web projects while benefiting from the usability and reliability in performance that they require in their everyday work.” — Dmitry Khalin, Head of Strategic Technologies Dept., Microsoft Russia

Users of Bitrix Site Manager ASP.NET 5.0 with valid support contracts can upgrade to the new version for free using the product’s SiteUpdate feature.

A fully-functional 30-day demonstration version of Bitrix Site Manager ASP.NET can be downloaded from the company site: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/download/aspnet/

• Gross licensing figures grew 42% over the previous year. But the important finding is that Bitrix Site Manager experienced growth of 28%, while Bitrix Intranet figures were up 63%, clearly demonstrating the increasing pace in the social collaboration market development.
• The registered number of Bitrix product installations has passed 50,000, while Bitrix Site Manager was rated the world’s #3 most popular CMS by W3Techs.
• The key customer wins include Condé Nast, Rosno Insurance, AXA Insurance, Vienna Insurance Group, Russian Parliament, Brown&Brown, Campbells, and the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games.
• The Bitrix partner network expanded to a total of nearly 6,000 certified partners worldwide being the largest network in the CMS market. The company introduced a number of channel initiatives to support partner development including the Leads Forwarding Program and the Marketing Cooperative Program.
• Bitrix introduced six major releases of its flagship products and sixteen industry solutions.
• Bitrix Site Manager and Bitrix Intranet have undergone a number of important improvements that address end-users’ and web developers’ core needs. Among them are new usability concept, Amber Ergonomics, turnkey website templates, records management, advanced e-learning, and integrated video conferencing.
• The Bitrix platform has confirmed its industry-leading performance indicator by introducing TrafficJuggler™ technology which manages up to 19 million requests per day on hardware typical of the SMB segment, as confirmed by independent testing. This number represents 430% growth in performance in comparison to 2007.
• The number of company employees grew 22%, bringing the total staff to 92.

“The company performed extremely well in 2010 and we attribute this growth to continuous product innovation, a lucrative partner program and qualified technical support. All these components work together to present the end user with a measurable business value”, said Dmitry Valyanov, President of Bitrix, Inc.

Learn more at http://www.bitrixsoft.com

Based on analysis of 1.000+ real-life installations of Bitrix Intranet among small and medium-sized businesses and many years of implementing social-enabled intranet solutions, Bitrix has shortlisted the most popular collaboration features.

Ranked Intranet Collaboration Features

1. Employee availability and presence tracking
2. Instant messaging and video conferencing
3. Meetings / conference room management
4. Virtual workgroups
5. Shared documents
6. Workflow management
7. Routine processes automation
8. Information and expert discovery
9. Idea management and social networking
10. Task management

The top ten list reflects the most-used intranet collaboration features and correspond to the most popular adoption patterns. Intriguingly, the priority of listings doesn’t match the wide-spread notion of the customer demand among SMBs. Indeed, task management, shared documents and content search are on the list but concede position to the seemingly less important features like presence tracking, instant messaging and meetings management. This is due to the fact that SMBs normally start the intranet implementation not with the most ‘famous’ features but rather those which are easy to adopt.

The survey confirms that SMBs are mainly interested in simple collaboration tools with the shortest adoption period. The organizations prefer step-by-step intranet adoption that starts from the most commonly used features and ends with heavy-weight functionality. In fact, this process may stretch over months depending on the organization’s readiness, internal governance and c-level support.

Considering the growing popularity of the intranet technology, Bitrix predicts that in the next year this list may undergo a major shift. Many organizations will be one step ahead in the intranet adoption and proceed with implementing more comprehensive collaboration features. At the same time, we believe the market will be notable for greater awareness of the benefits of intranets, as vendors provide better guidance to speed up the technology adoption.

To name names, Bitrix anticipates business processes and records management, social CRM and e-learning to become shortlisted. The leading intranet vendors have already integrated these features to let organizations ease the burden of third-party software acquisition, implementation and maintenance. At the same time, these are crucial tools for effective business management.

“Over the past years, businesses have realized that intranets are no longer the luxury nor the exclusive domain of large enterprises. Affordable and easy-to-use solutions deliver a set of obvious advantages to small and medium-sized businesses by improving collaboration, simplifying communications and strengthening the team spirit with social networking features”, said Dmitry Valyanov, President of Bitrix, Inc.

http://www.bitrixsoft.com/

Bitrix Virtual Appliance allows Bitrix Intranet and Bitrix Site Manager to be installed on the same physical server and share it with other business-critical applications like e-mail, proxy or CRM. The software supports a variety of virtual environments, contains pre-installed settings optimized for maximum performance and distinguished for ease of use and management. Importantly, Bitrix Virtual Appliance is free of charge, relies on free open source solutions and standards, compatible with free virtualization tools like VMware Player, and can be used for third-party PHP applications, thus improving the total cost of ownership of the organizations IT infrastructure.

Virtualization of social collaboration and e-commerce applications brings extra value to SMBs with heightened business continuity, agility and data security. Firstly, it improves time-to-launch as applications don’t require time-consuming deployment and configuration of operating systems or additional software. At the same time, centralized management enables effective orchestration of all business-critical applications from a single console. Secondly, greater availability and shorter disaster recovery time reduce risks associated with service downtime and data loss. Finally, virtualized applications run in a highly-secured sandbox. Coupled with the Bitrix PRO+PRO™ security framework, it delivers rock-solid protection against the hostile environment of the web.

Bitrix Virtual Appliance also streamlines VPS-based deployment of social collaboration and e-commerce solutions by hosting providers. This allows extending the company’s business footprint by selling high-demand software, increasing average revenue per user and creating a new source of recurring profits. A number of hosting providers have already taken advantage of this opportunity.

“Virtualization has already gained popularity in the enterprise market. But the future of this technology strongly depends on the adoption rate among SMBs; it is they who are considered to be the main market driver by the industry analysts. The availability of ready-to-use virtualized social collaboration and e-commerce solutions encourages smaller organizations to consider switching IT infrastructure to a virtual environment”, said Dmitry Valyanov, President of Bitrix, Inc.

http://www.bitrixsoft.com/