eZ Rebranding

eZ Systems has rebranded as Ibexa which is long overdue. Their name and its impact on branding was always a weak spot for them. eZ/Ibexa is a well-architected, enterprise-level platform with a name that just didn’t fit it.

I had dinner with the Farstad brothers in Oslo a few years ago (at a restaurant next to this really weird statue of Kate Moss). I delicately mentioned to them that the name might be a problem, and one of them (I forget which one) said something like:

We know. To Americans, it sounds like we’re trying to be a super bargain.

Well, I’m glad he said it. Perceptions matter, and this was always a weakness.

(For the record, I think the rebranding is just for the company at the moment, but one has to assume that name will filter down to the product eventually. The company used to be called eZ Systems, with the products eZ Platform and eZ Publish.)