We are very proud to announce the availability of SDL Web 8.5 for on-premise customers, partners and developers, which brings multi-brand, multi-lingual and multi-channel capabilities.

Built upon the microservices foundation introduced in SDL Web 8, and the positive feedback from customers and partners alike regarding our cloud-first approach for the product direction, SDL Web 8.5 further simplifies the deployment of these services through automation and adoption of “better defaults”.

This is the 4th release of SDL Web in 2016, an incredible milestone for a product that had a cycle closer to 2 years per release. SDL Web 8.5 is the combination of all the new features introduced throughout 2016.

Some of the highlights include:

• The ability to sim-ship across any number of languages and websites through deep changes to how BluePrinting works – especially around the availability of “in progress” versions of content throughout the BluePrint, and submitting content for translation while within a content workflow process
• Tighter language integration and better out-of-the-box experience for the translation review feature;
• A complete paradigm shift for workflow – allowing customers to follow a “collaboration-based model” for workflow, rather than the previous “embargo-based model”
• Various navigation and field type optimizations – based on extensive editor-focused research with customers.
• An overview interface for Topology Management
• Support for lower TCO solutions for binary storage, such as S3 and Azure Blob, instead of database storage – this will significantly reduce the database costs for customers with large amounts of binary content
• Multi-destination publishing, a much-loved feature of older versions of SDL Tridion, is now back in the product
• Support for “CM-First” upgrade processes, where the customer can choose to rollout the new version by upgrading their content management servers first, while keeping the web sites intact. This allows for a much lower impact upgrade plan, with little to no disruption to production requirements.

Implementers and customers can contact Customer Support to request their copy of SDL Web 8.5. There will be two webinars – January 31st (technical) and February 2nd (business).

Need more information? Please connect to your SDL representative or read more in our on-line documentation for SDL Web 8.5. Individual technical community members can request a developer license by submitting a request here.