Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

News for Today, Apr 28

Today's news on shared spaces, wireless collaboration, instant messaging, and enterprise collaboration technology:

• The UK Department of Trade and Industry implemented collaboration and communication technology from Interwise, to enable the formation of online communities at its portal site. CIO Today


• ABI Research projects that the Symbian OS will be the defining operating system for mobile phones through to 2009, and that Microsoft will lag the market. ABI believes that smartphones will grow in popularity, "Users will ultimately drive demand for Smartphones because of better functionality for such things as larger screen size, improved menu navigation and a broad platform on which you can more easily add applications to enhance the user experiences. These capabilities are all limited under carrier-specific or proprietary OSs." ABI Research


• FaceTime, in association with a research survey from IDC, claim that "most organizations prohibiting instant messaging in the enterprise fail to address critical network security, information security and regulatory compliance risks posed by its unauthorized use among workers". Adoption laggards cite a variety of reasons for non-adoption of enterprise IM, to which FaceTime responds that those problems have already been solved. FaceTime


• Gartner on top strategic technologies for 2005: IM, WLAN, taxonomies, IP telephony, service-oriented architectures, real-time enterprise infrastructure, and utility computing. ZDNet


• AnchorDesk argues that threaded discussions are inappropriate as a team collaboration tool, and that blogs and wikis are more appropriate. Comments from readers indicate that some of them have experienced better outcomes at their place of work. ZDNet


• Workshare Technologies named a new CEO. Workshare provides software for collaboration on and protection of shared documents. Workshare


• Telstra added the BlackBerry-enabled Nokia 6820 to its line-up of BlackBerry capable devices. Australian IT


• Akonix attempts to clarify the definition and meaning of SpIM (IM spam), which it says is "generated by worms, adware and malware that infect other users' machines". Akonix


• Tzunami released its K-Wise Deployer for Microsoft Office SharePoint 2003, which enables the rapid construction and population of SharePoint sites with documents from SharePoint 2001, file shares, and enterprise document management systems. Yahoo Business


• On Linux on the desktop in enterprise accounts: ""Control is one issue coming up more and more .... People want strategic independence from Microsoft." eWeek


• Proficiency, a provider of collaboration software for engineers, raised $12 million in fourth round of venture funding. Boston Business Journal


• Ezenia! announced that the US Defense Intelligence Agency has renewed its subscription for Ezenia's team workspace solution, InfoWorkSpace. Ezenia!

News for Today, Apr 26

A couple of wireless items of interest:

• From IDC on smartphones in Europe: "Increasing demand for smartphones , combined with continuing sales growth for traditional handheld devices, pushed up the European mobile market by 25.6 percent in the first quarter of 2004 compared to the same period last year." Wireless Newsfactor


• Matt discusses the future of Windows Mobile in the Australian market, closing with " ... .in a few years time, the infantile Pocket PC Phone and Smartphone market will be almost unrecognisable from their present status. Will Microsoft beat out Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, and their other competition in this field? Probably not - but they'll have a strong foothold if they play the game well." mtekk.com

News for Today, Apr 24

Happenings in the world of shared spaces:

• Microsoft released a Service Pack preview for OneNote 2003, offering technical updates and new features. Interesting new features: the ability to copy text and audio notes from a Pocket PC or smartphone into OneNote, real-time co-editing of OneNote pages, and integration with SharePoint for publishing OneNotes, among others. Available mid-2004. Microsoft


• Hands High Software released WiFile for Palm, a Windows networking add-on that enables Palm devices to connect to shared Windows drives over WiFi or Bluetooth. Available immediately. MarketWire


• A ZDNet review of Microsoft Smartphone (the Motorola MPx200) found the platform unstable. Eg, the phone would lock onto a number, the phone couldn't be turned off, and other strange behavior. ZDNet. Comment: Microsoft's isn't alone in facing teething problems with smartphones ... I've had similar problems with a Symbian-based Nokia (the 3650), and most recently the Palm-based Treo 600.
  

News for Today, Apr 23

Here's what's up in the world of shared spaces:

• Fastmobile, a mobile IM company, announced that Hutchison Essar will offer a mobile IM service - fastchat - on its Indian GSM/GPRS network. Due 2Q2004. fastmobile


• Scalix obtained $6 million in venture financing, bringing its total VC financing to date to $19.2 million. Scalix is developing a Linux-based email and calendaring platform. Scalix


• Certeon announced the Certeon Distributed Collaboration Platform for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, which "improves performance by providing a combination of reactive and proactive caching. Certeon positions the files needed by local users at the edge of the network if they are not already there. For example, a local user can change an existing document and publish it using SharePoint Products and Technologies, and the Certeon Platform will route and synchronize the document throughout the network. Users access documents transparently, without having to know their physical location. Certeon redirects the user access requests to the appropriate location and delivers the files locally from caches, which offloads the data center and minimizes latency". Certeon (not there yet). BusinessWire


• HP, Microsoft and Windows & .NET Magazine announced a seminar series (a roadshow to a variety of US cities) focused on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003. BusinessWire. Registration


• HP and PocketMac are encouraging disaffected Palm users on the Mac platform to switch to the HP iPAQ. PalmSource recently announced its intention to cease support for Palm synchronization with future versions of the Mac platform. sanjose.bizjournals.com. Update on April 24: PalmSource rejoins, "you are not advocating anything different to what we'll do ... requiring Palm users to acquire third-party sync software." sanjose.bizjournals.com

News for Today, Apr 22

Top items of interest:

• Antepo launched a channel partner program, targeting VARs, systems integrators, consultants and other solution providers. Antepo


• RIM announced a licensing deal with Motorola, which will see BlackBerry capabilities added into some Motorola mobile phones. RIM

News for Today, Apr 21

Today's news:

• ICQ released Version 4.0 of its IM client, adding the ability for developers to create plug-in applications, offering a new user interface, and links to cell phones. Available immediately. ICQ. Reviews at InfoWorld, BetaNews, and CNET


• TransMedia unveiled Version 2.2 of Colaborata, a management, collaboration, production and distribution platform for rich media. It's very targeted to media organizations. "TransMedia's collaboration module allows users to share and use your information via a robust collection of multimedia collaboration and communication tools. A secure collaborative platform provides clients with great flexibility in assigning access rights and privileges, managing project workflow and controlling sharing functionality both internally and externally. Users can also communicate via video and audio recorded messaging ... live conferencing, presentation and broadcasting tools. Media intensive organizations can shorten work cycles, decrease communication and operating costs, better utilize media assets and work with more immediacy and efficiency with colleagues and clients." Colaborata


• Polycom introduced a range of new conferencing solutions, including the VSX 3000 desktop unit, which combines a 17" flat panel display with an inbuilt video camera. The display can be linked to a PC. Polycom



• Europeans are directing their dollars toward smartphones rather than PDAs. theregister.co.uk


• Stanford University is working on a new group collaboration tool, called TeamSpace, which enables small groups of students to work together around a couple of large displays, and seamless share documents between their personal laptops and the group screens. Key features: concurrent work on a big screen and interactive filesharing. TeamSpace builds on earlier work called "Interactive Workspaces" or "iRooms", which "has been investigating both the software and human-computer interaction challenges of computer-supported collaboration involving large shared displays". TeamSpace Home. iWork. Downloads. The Stanford Daily

News for Today, Apr 16

Here's what going on around the world in the shared spaces arena:

• Video Guidance announced a partnership with Centra, for the resale of Centra's Web collaboration solution as a managed hosted service. Video Guidance is a video, voice and Web conferencing services provider. Video Guidance (PDF)


• Open Text introduced an online community of practice "for government customers, giving them an always-open forum to share ideas and best practices for applying Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software in government. The community, which is based on Livelink, allows Open Text to use its own technology and expertise in collaboration to establish closer relationships with customers .... Open Text hosts the forum in a Livelink community workspace which provides rich collaboration tools, such as a Weblog and community polls, so members can share opinions and ideas. Using the browser interface or e-mail, community members can easily share documents, articles, presentations, URLs, media files and other materials of interest to members. The community contains a wealth of information on new technology, training and user adoption, government IT standards and requirements, government technology events and webinars, and Livelink product updates. Other tools allow users to rate content shared in the forum and receive e-mail alerts when new information is added to the site." Open Text


• Citadon offers solutions to "enable the management of and collaboration on all organizational and project documents, automate and streamline business processes and communications within and across enterprises, and provide comprehensive action item tracking and audit trails". Products include Citadon CW (aimed at the enterprise), Citadon BPD (a design tool for CW), Citadon DM (a collaboration and document management solution), and ProjectNet (an out-of-the-box solution offering document sharing and forms processing). Citadon


• Wainhouse Research thinks that Cisco is going to become a major player in the Web conferencing market. SearchNetworking


• InfoStrength announced that its web-enabled knowledge, project and document management collaboration tool is verified for Windows Server 2003. InfoStrength


• Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is using a Web-based workspace / distributed decision-making portal for a variety of projects. The tool was developed in-house using an open source approach. The upcoming Version 3.0 will add time management functions, among other things. itbusiness.ca

From My Perspective, Apr 15

David Counsels Ditching the BlackBerry

I'm a long-term fan of David Allen's approach to 'Getting Things Done' (earlier 'Managing Action and Projects') ... I own the tape seminar, his two books, and read his weblog. I was a bit disconcerted this morning to read about his most recent consulting engagement, however, in which he reports that he encouraged the CEO client to dump the Research In Motion BlackBerry in favor of a Palm and laptop. The reason: "e-mail should be processed most efficiently for most people from at least a laptop, and ... a Palm to distribute ... Outlook lists into for portability". Why was this disconcerting? Two reasons:

• The BlackBerry, in my view, is the most optimized device for on-the-go wireless email. The fact that the CEO had one indicates that he probably travels frequently ... but now by dumping the BlackBerry, he's got to lug a laptop and boot that to do email. From my perspective, the BlackBerry is the ideal complement to David's getting things done approach, enabling an individual to process emails in the "2 minute chunks" (you gotta read David's stuff to get that) that are available during the day, and have all that processing automatically re-synchronized with the office email system.


• The BlackBerry already enables synchronization of "lists" for "portability" ... just like the Palm does. Per RIM, the BlackBerry Organizer includes a "Task List - Add, edit and delete tasks. Also mark tasks as complete while you're away from your desk" that "synchronizes with most popular organizer packages" via the BlackBerry Desktop Software (a licensed and re-branded version of IntelliSync). Outlook and Notes support, among a variety of others, are included out-of-the-box, per System Requirements.
  

Knowing that David is a long term user of the Palm, it sounds to me as though David doesn't recognize the power of the BlackBerry, and I encourage him to get one and try it out.

News for Today, Apr 15

Today's news:

• Cingular Wireless released its XpressMail With BlackBerry service to retail customers via its retail stores. XpressMail enables subscribers to gain wireless access to their email from a BlackBerry handheld device. Yahoo Business


• iAnywhere is hosting a technical webinar regarding extending Lotus Domino-based databases and applications to a wide variety of mobile devices, with a particular focus on its own Pylon Application Server. Where: your office. When: April 29, 2004 (2-3pm EST). iAnywhere


• The KM Cluster and the Institute for Social Network Analysis of the Economy are hosting a one-day summit on Social Networks, "a critical foundation of communities of practices, knowledge management, enterprise collaboration, learning, expertise management, productivity, innovation, markets and economies". Where: San Francisco. When: May 21, 2004. KM Cluster


• InformationWeek interviewed Ray Ozzie of Groove Networks. Key take-aways: (a) file-sharing workspaces is a big deal; (b) there's a revised forms development environment (which, as Volker points out, looks extremely similar to the Domino Designer client); (c) security is built-in and is 'complacency-immune'; and (d) Groove is designed to support inter-organizational communications because it layers on top of existing infrastructure without requiring changes to any of it. InformationWeek


• Microsoft released a new version of its plug-in to enable users of Microsoft Outlook to link with IBM Lotus Domino Servers. It apparently adds support for Outlook 2003 and Domino 6.x servers. Available immediately. PCWorld.com Download from Microsoft


• The British Bankers' Association, which "acts as a catalyst for the banking sector, seeking members' views and comment on regulatory initiatives and legislation before making submissions to the Government, European Commission or regulators on behalf of the industry" has licensed the Hummingbird Enterprise collaboration suite to improve communications with association members. The product is "a highly secure, Web-based collaborative workspace for dispersed teams across and beyond the enterprise. It enables businesses across the entire industry spectrum to streamline collaborative processes, enhance team productivity, and speed the delivery of targeted results in any collaborative activity". Banking & Technology News

News for Today, Apr 14

A few items of interest in the shared spaces world today:

• Epoch International integrated its network management product, NeedTEXT Network Monitoring, with the RIM BlackBerry. "The software will monitor any host or service on a customer's network, including web sites, databases, email servers, Windows Services, event logs, and host disk and operating system statistics .... NeedTEXT Monitor will automatically send an administrator an email when it has discovered a potential problem. If the administrator is away from his desk, he will receive the email notification on his BlackBerry, and then also use the BlackBerry to connect to, and repair, the affected system." prnewswire.com


• BusinessWeek published a good write-up of RIM and the BlackBerry, focusing on the co-CEOs. BusinessWeek