AUSTIN, Texas — Feb. 13, 2020 – WP Engine, the WordPress technology company, announced today two updates to simplify the workflow of developers and enable them to create world-class digital experiences. Starting today, Local (formerly Local by Flywheel), will connect directly to the WP Engine WordPress Digital Experience Platform (DXP). Additionally, Flywheel customers will now have access to the Genesis framework and themes free of charge, a feature already available to WP Engine customers.
Now, all 130,000 Flywheel and WP Engine customers can enjoy the same world-class developer solutions to their combined customer base that they previously only offered to their respective customers. Local is the most relied upon local WordPress development solution with over 150,000 users who enjoy its easy development environment to build WordPress sites, test those sites and speed up their development workflow. Genesis is the world’s most popular theme framework for WordPress, used on over 600,000 websites.
WP Engine, the WordPress Technology Company
When WP Engine announced its acquisition of Flywheel in June 2019, its vision was to offer the most relied upon and trusted platforms in WordPress along with the most developer-centric tools to build on those platforms. These platforms and tools include WP Engine’s DXP, Flywheel’s managed hosting platform, Local and Genesis—all trusted brands under the umbrella of WP Engine, the WordPress technology company. Today, that company has more than 900 employees in eight offices across five countries.
“Our vision is to be the most trusted WordPress technology company in the world,” said Heather Brunner, Chairwoman and CEO of WP Engine. “Our family of WordPress solutions means we have the ability to meet any organization’s WordPress needs from getting started all the way up to scaling for the most complex and popular sites in the world. Over the past six months, we’ve been busy bringing the strengths of each respective brand to our customers through our industry-leading developer solutions, Local and Genesis, and these are just the first of several planned launches coming in the next few months.”
A Legacy of Commitment to the WordPress Community
Not only does this announcement open up the use of Local and Genesis to WP Engine and Flywheel’s broad customer bases, it also underscores WP Engine’s strong commitment and investment in the WordPress open source community. It’s thanks to the tireless efforts of this vibrant and devoted community of tens of thousands of developers around the world that Local and Genesis have become the world’s most popular development solutions. Some of the most beautiful websites in the world have been created by this community. WP Engine plans to continue building on its foundation of support for the WordPress community and its contributors by providing meaningful opportunities for continued collaboration for the ongoing betterment of WordPress.
The Best of Both Worlds: Local
Many novice and advanced WordPress developers face the issue of wanting to work on or test and preview their site in a safe, offline environment. Further, they want a great local development tool that is effortless to use for all skill levels while still providing advanced capabilities for those that need it.
Enter Local. Local is WordPress’ most popular, easy-to-use tool to build and test WordPress sites faster. Today, WP Engine is releasing Local Connect, which helps Local users deploy their sites to the WP Engine platform with a single click. In addition, WP Engine customers will receive award-winning technical support for Local from the WP Engine team. This is the first of several planned features between Local and WP Engine.
Key Benefits:
- Get started in minutes with simple installation, intuitive interface, and easy site creation
- Increase productivity with a suite of powerful dev tools including shell tools, email testing tools, and various website logs
- Improved developer experience thanks to integration with and support from WP Engine
The Best of Both Worlds: Genesis
For WordPress developers seeking to shorten time-to-market, Genesis provides a trusted technical foundation on which to build well-designed, secure, fast-loading and SEO-optimized WordPress experiences. Additionally, it is Gutenberg-ready and the only framework in the market with built-in AMP support. It is now available at no additional cost for all Flywheel customers.
Key Benefits:
- Lightweight codebase and built-in SEO delivers great site performance
- One-Click Theme Setup gets sites up and ready for customization within minutes instead of hours
- Seamless experience due to integration with and support from Flywheel
For more information about Flywheel, go to https://getflywheel.com/. For more information about WP Engine, go to https://wpengine.com/. For more information about Local, go to http://localwp.com/. For information about Genesis, go to https://wpengine.com/themes/genesis-framework/.
