Hello Partners!
Welcome to the first ZeXtras Partners Newsletter , your monthly appointment with all the latest ZeXtras news for your Business.
First of all, I would like to remind you of the areas reserved to partners in the ZeXtras Forums:
* the Reseller Center - A Partner-Only forum (both for Resellers and Distributors) to discuss how ZeXtras can improve your business with other resellers as well as with the ZeXtras Team.
* the Customer Center - A forum open to all Customers and Resellers alike, the main hub for customer assistance.
* the Betatesters Center - The place for Beta and RC feedbacks. Discuss the latest betas, the features you like and the ones you'd like to see added.
ZeXtras Suite Tech News
This first Partners Newsletter focuses on the release of ZeXtras Suite 1.0.0-RC1 to all partners and betatesters.
Version 1.0.0-RC1 is a huge step forward for ZeXtras Suite, as it features a complete Core rewrite together with a brand new Command Line Interface and the long-awaited Multistore support, while mantaining all the features released in the 0.99.X branch.
Being a Release Candidate this version is neither meant for Production use nor for distribution to your customers.
Feedbacks on your tests are very appreciated - I want to see the Betatesters forums clogged with your impressions and suggestions! 
New Features in 1.0.0-RC1
* Complete rewrite of the Core - better error management, better operation feedback, improved logging, disk space management and much more.
* ZeXtras CLI - a brand new Command Line Interface for ZeXtras Suite and its modules, called via the `zxsuite` command.
* Multistore support - ZeXtras Suite can now be installed in a multistore environment. Each instance of ZeXtras Suite will communicate with the others via the brand new ZxLink communication layer, allowing you to perform all the operations you need on one or more store servers.
* New Zimlet - Due to the Core changes, the ZeXtras Administration Zimlet has been redrawn to accommodate the new Multistore capabilities. Also, many notifications once present only in the logs are now shown within the UI.
Version 1.0.0 will be available to the general public within the end of August.
Access to this RC version (and to all RCs that might follow) is only for our Partners. A public beta release is not scheduled.
Useful Links:
ZeXtras Betatesters Center - http://forums.zextras.com/zextras-betatesters-center/
ZeXtras Customer Center - http://forums.zextras.com/zextras-customer-center/
ZeXtras Reseller Center - http://forums.zextras.com/zextras-reseller-center/
ZeXtras Suite 1.0.0-RC-LAST Download - http://www.zextras.com/downloads/zextras_suite-1.0.0-RC-LAST.tgz
Multistore informations - ZxBackup: Multistore Informations - ZeXtras Suite Wiki
ZeXtras CLI Guide - ZeXtras CLI - ZeXtras Suite Wiki
ZeXtras Suite Business News
Baseprice discounts for Partners
This is a summary to all the discounts available to Partners:
40% Discount for Edu/Gov/Non-Profit
+
20% Discount for Mailboxes 10 - 250
36% Discount for Mailboxes 251 - 2500
48% Discount for Mailboxes 2501 - 4999
These discounts are automatically applied on the ZeXtras Store when you log in with your partner account.
Please remember to specify your Customer's Company Name in step 3.1 (Checkout) when buying a license. This imprints the Customer's name on the license together with yours.
FOCUS ON: the Special Bid
What's a Special Bid?
A Special Bid is a request for a "special price" that only Partners can make.
It allows the Partner to entice a valuable customer by offering a very low price for the product.
When should a partner ask for a Special Bid?
As a rule of thumb, a Special Bid should be asked for 2 types of customers:
- Customers with a large number of mailboxes (5000+)
- "Prestige" Customers - such as important Gov agencies, Universities, Medical Centers, International Corporations or Non-Profit organizations, as long as they agree to authorize ZeXtras to publish a Case Study about them.
What kind of response can ZeXtras give to a Special Bid request?
ZeXtras will never give "NO" as a first answer to a Special Bid Request.
If the Special Bid request is not immediatly accepted, the Partner will be asked for a direct chat (usually via Skype) with our sales team in order to explain the details of the request and/or revise the offer. If an agreement cannot be found this way, the Special Bid will then be denied. Else, it will be authorized at the agreed conditions.
That's all for this month.. Don't forget to review our ZeXtras Migration Tool in the Zimbra gallery at ZeXtras Migration Tool | Zimbra :: Gallery and to publish the ZeXtras Partner and Download ZeXtras badges on your website!
Have a nice day,
the ZeXtras Team