X-Cart, maker of the pioneering e-commerce software used in over 110 countries, announces the launch of X-Cart NEXT, the company’s first Cloud-hosted platform. The new offering brings X-Cart flexibility and expandability to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform with an easier-to-manage interface and one-click upgrades. 30-day free trials are available at http://next.x-cart.com/.

X-Cart is also taking the rare step of offering X-Cart NEXT source code to certified developers, which allows them unlimited potential to design new features and customer options.

“Besides making X-Cart NEXT easy to install, use, scale and upgrade, we’ve erased one of the biggest objections to SaaS e-commerce platforms – the inability to alter the source code for a specific hosted storefront,” says Maxim Vydrin, CEO of X-Cart, adding, “Now our certified developers can take advantage of the benefits of a hosted platform, but with the flexibility of a downloaded software package. We’ve also made this process much easier to implement.”

Extensions or upgrades created by developers will be made available to X-Cart’s partner community via the X-Cart NEXT Marketplace and can be downloaded with ease. X-Cart modeled its upgrade and extension installation process upon Apple’s App Store: with a few clicks, a new module is installed and updated seamlessly with no adverse affect on other modules.

Plans & Pricing: X-Cart NEXT offers a Starter plan at $29.95 (US) monthly with a 100-product limit, an Advanced plan at $99.95 per month for up to 5000 products, and a Business plan at $249.95 for unlimited products. The Enterprise plan, a customized solution with unlimited support and a dedicated account manager, is also available starting at $999 monthly.

An online demo of the X-Cart NEXT platform can be found at http://next.x-cart.com/demo/.

X-Cart NEXT Features: Basic features available to all X-Cart NEXT plans include:

A detailed list of features for each plan can be found at http://next.x-cart.com/features.html.

The X-Cart NEXT Enterprise plan also offers the unique ability to integrate with Drupal, the popular content management system, allowing developers to use existing Drupal extensions to add customization options. Combined with X-Cart’s extensive library of SimpleCMS extensions, available on all plans, developers will have unsurpassed ability to manage their content.

Upgrade Path: A migration service is available for current X-Cart merchants who wish to adopt X-Cart NEXT as their platform. Previous versions of X-Cart’s downloadable e-commerce packages will remain fully supported, with new versions released at regular intervals.

Partner Programs: Certified developers can earn a 15 to 25 percent recurring commission on new platform sales with X-Cart NEXT’s affiliate program. With the ability to customize a SaaS store for their customers at the source code level, certified developers will have a special web address to manage those customers, download stores for development and maintenance, and upload custom modules. Developers can also earn 75 percent for every add-on extension or theme they create, which can be automatically sold via the X-Cart NEXT Marketplace.

About X-Cart: X-Cart is a leading e-commerce platform known for its speed, rich features, scalability, nearly limitless customization options and superior customer support. Founded in 2001, X-Cart is now used in over 110 countries and by over 30,000 businesses ranging from small companies to large enterprises. Based in Ulyanovsk, Russia, X-Cart is part of the Qualiteam group of e-commerce companies, which pioneered the development of shopping cart software with 2000’s F-Cart, one of the first commercial open source shopping carts.

X-Cart is a trademark of Qualiteam Software Limited. All other trademarks or registered trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.