NORFOLK, VA, March 24, 2010 -- xTuple, the leader in Mac and open source enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), today announced the general availability of version 3.5 of its namesake product. This latest version saves employee time and cuts costs by automating many routine tasks that are often performed manually or by expensive external systems. Version 3.5 also continues xTuple's recent push to add more enterprise-class functionality to the core package, while retaining the ease-of-use for which the company is known.

"The reality is many SMBs today are limited largely to moving ahead tactically, rather than strategically," said Jay Lyman, enterprise software analyst for The 451 Group. "This can be particularly true with desktop financial applications, but by leveraging higher-end ERP and CRM features that are still affordable thanks in large part to open source, they can consolidate steps and operate more strategically and effectively."

This latest version of xTuple also gives users of the free PostBooks Edition the ability to run their xTuple database in the cloud via Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). During the month of April, the company will be providing the xTuple cloud service at no charge and encouraging feedback to help define what will eventually be a commercial service, billed monthly possibly across all three Editions of the software.

Tweet this: Open source accounting, CRM & ERP provider #xTuple releases 3.5 for SMBs with cloud, drop ship, and time entry http://tinyurl.com/ycc2b9c.

Significant new 3.5 features and enhancements include:

• Drop ship purchasing: Now taking a sales order, immediately purchasing the item and having it shipped directly to the customer is fully automated and seamless for distribution companies.

• Expanded support for tooling: Facilitates managing and consuming tools in the manufacturing process

• Pricing effectivity: Dramatically increases the...