Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 14

Today's highlights: Autonomic Launch; Orchestria and Bloomberg; 4SmartPhone Mobile Email; Intellisync on AT&T smartphone;

• My very good friend Kent Duston has launched Autonomic, a business and IT consultancy company in Wellington NZ. I've known and worked alongside Kent for many years, and his sharp take on things and pragmatic approach to getting work done is truly refreshing. I wish him all the best. Autonomic


• Orchestria announced a strategic alliance with Bloomberg, for the integration of Orchestria's integrated messaging compliance solutions with the Bloomberg terminal service, Bloomberg email, and Instant Bloomberg (the IM service). "Bloomberg users exchange millions of messages per day, many of which are subject to strict regulatory requirements. Orchestria’s market leading Active Policy Management (“APM”) technology will allow Bloomberg users to check each message for compliance with the relevant rules in real-time, as the message is sent. Additional functionality, including long term message archiving, compliance review and litigation support, will be provided, as will full integration with existing APM deployments." Available 4Q2004. Orchestria


• 4Smartphone introduced a mobile email service for small and medium-sized business users, based on a hosted Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. "With 4SmartPhone, users can access constantly updated or real-time information with the most familiar functions of Microsoft Outlook on a wireless device, including inbox, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, and shared/public folders. While the system operates on the Windows Mobile platform, it can also support other platforms in a customized version. In addition, the solution enables real-time access to information through synchronization over the air (cradleless synch), allowing users to send, receive and review attachments in the most common formats such as Excel, Word and PDF files." 4Smartphone


• Intellisync announced a joint marketing partnership with AT&T Wireless for marketing the Intellisync Mobile Suite wireless email solution to enterprise customers to enable wireless access to Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino email via the Audiovox SMT5600 Windows Mobile smartphone. Intellisync

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 13

Today's highlights: Plumtree Collaboration Server 4.0; PushMessenger; Instant Technologies Queue Manager; JP Mobile SureWave Mobile Office;

• Plumtree released Version 4.0 of Collaboration Server, its group collaboration offering. New features: integration with the Windows desktop, synchronization of calendars with Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, MS Project integration, real-time editing of documents on the server without downloading to the desktop first, integrated presence awareness, and a new Web Services API for embedding collaborations services in business applications. Available immediately. Plumtree. Reviews: Network World and InformationWeek



• PushMessenger released the ISP/Carrier Edition of its instant messaging and presence server. Key features: enables users to be connected simultaneously via various devices, Wireless Village compliant, load balancing and clustering architecture, and integration with SMS servers, among others. Available immediately. eMediaWire



• Instant Technologies released Instant Agent Framework Queue Manager, the IM equivalent of the call queuing technology used by telephony-focused call centers. Works with Lotus Sametime. Offers a sort of skills-based routing along with availability-based routing. Available immediately. Instant Technologies


• JP Mobile will announce a re-branded and updated version of its behind-the-firewall wireless email server later this month, called SureWave Mobile Office. It will be sold directly to corporations, but JP Mobile is also in talks with various carriers. eWeek

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 12

Today's highlights: Captaris RightFax Workflow; Akonix in London;

• Captaris released the RightFax Workflow Wizard, an add-on product for its RightFax fax server. Key features: visual workflow builder for sending and receiving faxes, integration with Microsoft SharePoint, and status monitoring, among others. Available immediately. Captaris


• Akonix continued its European endeavours with an office in London UK. BusinessWire

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 11

Today's highlights: Cyan Soft eProof 4.0; More Servers for Office System;

• Cyan Soft released Version 4.0 of eProof, a document collaboration solution that enables multiple people to work with the same proof file. "eProof is a document collaboration and remote proofing solution that allows to proofread and correct in real time the original high-resolution production files in a standard web browser. With eProof clients are able to edit the original text of e.g. PDF, PostScript, InDesign, Illustrator or Word documents. Clients can correct and annotate the same document at the same time and will see each others changes and comments immediately." pressbox.co.uk


• Microsoft is apparently working on additional servers for its Office System, including an InfoPath Server. Objective: "encourage" users to upgrade from older versions of the client-only Office applications to ones that tie client and server functionalities together. CRN

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 8

Today's highlights: Sirana SpamCenter; Near-Time Flow 1.1; Interwoven TeamSite 6.5; Parlano $4.5m Series B;

• Sirana Software (run by my friend Chris Williams) released SpamCenter, an end-user solution for spam management for organizations using the Intelligent Message Filter add-on for Microsoft Exchange Server. "With Sirana SpamCenter, messages that are identified as spam by the Exchange message filter are automatically added to a database, eliminating spam message buildup on the Exchange server.  Once they are added to the database, users can securely browse their quarantined messages through a web interface.  They can release messages that were blocked in error, eliminating the need for manual intervention by administrators.  Users can also build personal Safe Sender lists and Blocked Sender lists to manage their quarantines automatically."



• Near-Time, Inc. released Version 1.1 of Near-Time Flow, its collaborative workspace product offering for Mac OS X users, and a beta of its new Near-Time Relay collaboration server. New features of Flow 1.1: weblog publishing APIs, new content integration options, and SSL security. The Relay serve enables organizations to deploy a behind-the-firewall collaboration server, instead of relying on the public Internet server. Near-Time



• Interwoven enhanced TeamSite 6.5 with new searching and reporting functions, including full parametric search, actionable results, and cross-initiative retrieval and re-use on the search side, and site-specific reporting, advanced tracking reports, and intuitive pre-packaged reports on the reporting side. Available October. Interwoven


• Parlano secured $4.5m in Series B financing, with "plans to immediately invest in expanded sales, marketing and product development operations to augment its vertical market penetration in the financial services market, and to take advantage of rapid expansion in other industries, including government, pharmaceuticals, high-tech and manufacturing. Parlano

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Review of Web Collaborator: Not Ready for Prime Time, Oct 7

In response to my recent post on real-time co-editing of Microsoft Word documents, a couple of people pointed me in the direction of Web Collaborator.

I tried it out for a test project, and here's my reaction:

• Web Collaborator enables the space owner and invited colleagues to post discussion thoughts and to co-write one document per space. Hence, if you were trying to support an online meeting and refer to multiple documents, this is not the right tool.


• There is no record locking on the document, or saving of conflicts. Hence multiple people can begin an edit of the document at the same time, but they will not be informed that someone else is already editing it. Whoever saves their changes first will have written the authoritative version, but any other active writers will not know that their changes will be lost until they click "Save", at which point a white screen with the word "overwrite" will display. The second author can click "Back" and copy the text they've just written, re-load the new master copy, and paste it in, which would work fine, assuming others aren't editing, and assuming that the changes were made in one continuous block. If those assumptions aren't correct, the second author would get frustrated very quickly!


• The discussion capability offers no concept of threading or replies to main topics ... every discussion post is a main topic. I don't think that's good enough. People need to be able to reply directly to a post, otherwise each collaborator needs to read through the entire discussion board to get a sense of who said what in response to whom, etc.


• There is no concept of space-based presence. I can see that I'm logged in, but not the presence of anyone else. I think a shared spaces tool needs that.

The service offers some nice features, and is free, but overall this service is not ready for prime time. Until the above issues are resolved, my take is that Web Collaborator will cause even greater collaboration frustration compared with just using email.

Have you tried Web Collaborator? Did you arrive at a different conclusion? Please leave a comment below, or drop me an email.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 7

Today's highlights: Mail Order; META on Oracle Content Management; New customer for Open Text Livelink;

• The Australian Bureau of Statistics adopted practices in the late 1990s to ensure that tacit knowledge in email was retained for subsequent usage. The article goes on to talk about how organizations need an email management system given the legal and compliance issues around email. cio.com.au


• A recent META survey found that regulatory compliance will drive the adoption of new enterprise content management platforms, and cites Oracle as a "well-positioned" company. Oracle


• New customer for Open Text Livelink Software Suite: US Office of Naval Research. Aim: to improve collaboration and to better manage documents and dat for the organization's research projects. Open Text

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 6

Today's highlights: Antepo OPN System 4.5; Records Management for SharePoint; PalmOne and Microsoft on ActiveSync; TechTerra TerraMeeting Collaboration and Conferencing Service; Synchronica SyncML Gateway for Microsoft Exchange;

• Antepo released Version 4.5 of its Open Presence Network (OPN) System, an enterprise IM solution that interoperates across standards-based IM networks. New features: wizard-based installation, streamlined integration with Active Directory and Kerberos, and new logging options, among others. Available immediately. tmcnet.com


• Mobius Management Systems released Version 4.6 of ViewDirect for SharePoint, a records management solution for Microsoft SharePoint Portal 2001 and 2003. Enables organizations to index, link, store, search, access and manage SharePoint records over the entire document lifecycle. Available immediately. ZDNet


• PalmOne licensed the ActiveSync protocol from Microsoft, enabling wireless synchronization between upcoming Treo handhelds and Microsoft Exchange Server. The licensing deal gives PalmOne the ability to offer Treo users out-of-the-box wireless sync of Exchange-based email and calendar data, among other data types. palmOne and ZDNet


• TechTerra Communications introduced a hosting collaboration and conferencing service, TerraMeeting. "The service includes a rich conferencing and collaboration feature-set in one of the most flexible pricing models available today. Key Features of TerraMeeting include VoIP peer-to-peer conferencing, enhanced Application Viewing/Sharing, White Board, Text Chat (to an entire group or sub-group), File Transfer, Remote Desktop Control/Sharing, and Session Record/Playback." tmcnet.com


• Synchronica released Synchronica SyncML Gateway for Microsoft Exchange, providing over-the-air sync of Microsoft Exchange data with mobile phones from Nokia, SonyEricsson and Siemens. Offered for inhouse deployment (Corporate version) or as an outsourced service from carriers (Operator version). Synchronica

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Shared Spaces Briefing, Oct 5

Today's highlights: SBC Unified Communications; Citadon ProjectNet Small Team Edition; Tungsten T5; Visto Mobile 5.0; Sproqit Personal Edition;

• SBC Communications released SBC Unified Communications, a network-based service that combines voice mail, email and fax mail into a single service. Features a phone or a Web browser interface, and includes integration with Cingular Wireless. Available immediately. SBC.com


• Citadon released ProjectNet Small Team Edition, a Web-based document management solution that enables real-time collaboration and information sharing. The Small Team Edition is a lower-priced version of Citadon's enterprise offering. "ProjectNet enables users to store, track and manage changes to documents for projects on a global enterprise scale, improving communication between project team members and integrating decisions into a comprehensive workflow. ProjectNet STE delivers the same collaborative benefits, including calendar scheduling, threaded discussion and messaging capabilities, and creating a reliable audit trail, but as a solution scaled to meet the needs of a single project team. ProjectNet STE can be deployed quickly since it is an 'on-demand' solution that requires no software installation. It is priced at $70.00 per user per month, making world-class collaboration and document management easily available to any department or organization." Citadon


• PalmOne introduced the Tungsten T5, the latest version of its business-focused Tungsten handheld. Key features: 256 MB of storage, a new file transfer application (for Windows desktops), and Palm OS 5.4. PalmOne. Comments: mytreo.net


• Visto Corporation announced Version 5.0 of Visto Mobile, its wireless email platform. New features: push email delivery to any mobile device over 2.5 and 3G networks, end-to-end encryption, and push-based updates to calendar and contacts, among others. The CEO says, "We have the most advanced solution, strong mobile operator partnerships, the broadest device support, the financial strength and the patented intellectual property which will allow us to surpass RIM's total subscriber base in 2005". Visto


• Sproqit Technologies announced Sproqit Personal Edition, enabling wireless access to Outlook and other desktop applications from a PDA or smartphone. "With features like complete network browsing, sending and receiving attachments, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes, Sproqit provides a complete solution for those users who don't want to spend thousands of dollars on an enterprise server solution. In less than 10 minutes, end-users can install the Sproqit software on their desktop computers and their mobile devices and get all the functionality and flexibility they need, both online and offline, regardless of the size of their deployment." Per monthly fees; available October in the US and November in the UK. BusinessWire

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.

Real-Time Co-Editing of Microsoft Word Documents, Oct 1

A client shared a collaboration problem with me a couple of months back: internal people had no way of jointly viewing and editing Microsoft Word documents from their desktops with others internal to the organization, nor with the external experts that they had to interact with on a frequent basis. Secondly, after they emailed the document, they had no control over what the recipient did with it, and no assurance that the recipient would always work from the latest copy.

As a collaboration consultant and researcher, I delight in helping clients solve their intractable problems. Here are three of the ideas I proposed as a way of resolving the problems:

• Groove Virtual Office Professional 3.0. Staff put the document to be shared into a Groove Document Review shared space. Internal and external participants are invited. Using the "Co-Edit" function of Groove, one person in turn can have edit rights of the document, and once they save their changes, everyone in the co-edit session gets to see the changes immediately. It's not true real-time co-editing, but it's extremely close ... and it definitely solves the problem of having to email the changes around again. See www.groove.net


• GoToMyPC Corporate. The document owner invites the other party to a real-time co-editing session by enabling controlled screen sharing. The document would be opened directly from the document management system, and checked back in immediately upon finishing the edit session. Both participants can share editing of the document. No extraneous copies of the document are left lying around, thus solving the content security problem. See www.gotomypc.com/corp


• Authentica Secure Office. Authentica Secure Office enables staff to set access rights on documents—such as the right to read, the right to edit, the right to print, the right to copy text to the clipboard—for named individuals, as well as global rights for document expiration regardless of physical location. Secure Office does not deal with the problem of real-time co-editing of a Word document. It does, however, significantly reduce (or perhaps entirely eliminate) the risk of unauthorized disclosure of document contents. Hence, the document could be emailed as normal (or put into a Groove shared space), but no authorized access would be possible, since it was tied to an explicit rights policy. There are other companies that play in this space too. See www.authentica.com

Have you had to deal with this problem? How did you do it? Please leave a comment below, or drop me an email.