Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

Quick Links, Nov 17

• Report ... Real Time Collaboration and Communication Trends ... Research and Markets has a new report available, entitled "Real Time Collaboration and Communication; Market Trends and Analysis 2006 - A Market in Transition". Identifies 9 key trends. BusinessWire


• Product ... RIM's Workaround ... RIM has finished its "workaround" design for the RIM BlackBerry devices. Apparently, this design does not infringe on the NTP patents. Bloomberg


• Product ... Office 12 Beta Technical Release Available ... The Technical Beta Release of Office 12, for 10,000 pre-approved beta testers, is available. It includes Outlook 12, OneNote 12, and Groove Virtual Office 12, among others. eWeek, Red Herring, ComputerWorld


• New Customer ... for Microsoft SharePoint ... Procter & Gamble Co. has rolled out a Microsoft-centric collaboration infrastructure to more than 100,000 users. The stack includes Office 2003, Outlook 2003, Communicator (for IM), Live Meeting (for conferencing), and SharePoint (Portal) and more. Selling points: (a) cross-product integration, and (b) the familiarity of Windows. Future plans include cross-enterprise instant messaging. The roll-out is intended to replace Lotus Notes. InformationWeek


• Acquisition Attempt ... TRC Capital Corporation for RIM ... TRC Capital Corporation made an unsolicited offer to RIM for the purchase of up to 1 million common shares. RIM doesn't like the idea. RIM


• White Paper ... Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange ... Scalix just published a new white paper on migrating away from Exchange, entitled "Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange". Reasons include scalability, Linux support, message store robustness, and others. 9 pages. Scalix (PDF, registration required)

Quick Links, Nov 16

• New Blog ... Ray Ozzie v3 ... Ray is blogging again, this time at MSN Spaces. Ray Ozzie


• New Members ... CalConnect Membership ... IBM, Trumba, and Harvard ASCS/NYU have recently joined The Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium, which is focused on calendaring and scheduling interoperability. CalConnect.org


• Acquisition ... Nokia acquired Intellisync ... Nokia announced a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Intellisync (of whom I think very highly), for US$430 million. Subject to regulatory approvals and shareholder approval, and these are expected within 3-4 months. Intellisync, with coverage at canada.com


• Product ... K2.net 2003 Collaboration Tools for SharePoint ... SourceCode Technology Holdings released K2.net 2003 Collaboration Tools for Microsoft SharePoint Products & Technologies, for creating document workflow within SharePoint Portal Server 2003. The collaboration tools allow business users to define workflows (serial, parallel and multi-stage), along with escalations, email notifications, and more. prnewswire.com


• Product ... Zimbra Calendaring ... Zimbra released group calendaring and scheduling capabilities for the Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Supports free/busy, .ics calendar importing, overlaid calendaring, time zone support, and RSS support for consumption and publishing. Beta 2 available immediatly. eWeek


• Product ... WorkZone 4.0 ... Trichys released Version 4.0 of WorkZone, its collaborative project management platform. New features: document approval tool, project tracker, and graphical customization options, among others. Available immediately. PRWeb


• Product ... Inxight SmartDiscovery Awareness Server 5.4 ... Inxight Software released Version 5.4 of SmartDiscovery Awareness Server, an enterprise search offering with Pillar 7 leanings. New features: entity clustering and alerts, updated analysis capabilities, search index usage, and an improved user interface. Available immediately. Inxight


• Product ... Captaris Supports Microsoft SQL Server 2005 ... Captaris announced support for the newly released SQL Server 2005 within Captaris RightFax, Workflow and Alchemy. Captaris

Quick Links, Nov 15

• New Blog ... David Glazer of Open Text ... David, the CTO at Open Text, has started blogging. little d big G


• Story ... Exchange 2007? ... Exchange "12" may not ship until 2007, according to a recent Microsoft presentation. Also, it will only be available as a 64-bit offering. Microsoft Watch


• Acquisition ... PeopleCube by Meeting Maker ... Meeting Maker acquired PeopleCube, and changed its name to PeopleCube also. The intention is to combine scheduling products with business process management applications, specifically for human process management. Meeting Maker


• Product ... C-Search 1.4 ... C-Search Limited released Version 1.4 of its namesake search engine for Notes and Domino installations. New capabilities offer attachment compression, and improved browser support. PRWeb


• Product ... Eudora 7 ... Qualcomm released Version 7 of the Eudora email client. New features: faster search through better indexing (powered by X1), email address monitoring in recipient lists, and improved IMAP support. Available immediately. Eudora


• Product ... Scalix Community Edition ... Scalix introduced an enhanced version of Scalix Community Edition, its free unlimited use version of its Linux-based email and calendaring software. Raises from 5 to 25 the number of people who get free access to the full set of Scalix Enterprise capabilities. Scalix

Year in Review 2005

I have been planning for some time to write my "year in review" article (and perhaps it's too early, given that it's just the middle of November ... oh well). Since I had more time available due to a recent trip to Australia, I was able to show a little more creativity ;-). So, here's my sometimes tongue-in-cheek annual review for 2005.

A is for all, all the people I've met,
Who've made this year the most incredible yet.

B is for briefing, the Daily News sort,
About all the changes since last time, published for all on my own press court.

C is for coordinaction, my made-up word,
My attempt to replace "collaboration" and direct the herd.

D is for doing, as in getting stuff done,
Hat tip to entreprenuers all over, who equate doing with having major fun.

E is for Eric, of eProductivity, a Tablet adopter ... but the Mac-less Mack.
On balance, however, he's a jolly-fine chap.

F is for forum, or OCF,
Touting for openness without being the ref.

G is for go-to-market, a strategy chore. You have to do it, and get it right,
Or your prospects will hate you, partners will flee, so make it up wisely using all your might.

H is for hope, for SharePoint from now on. Microsoft's got lots of it, the channel seems keen,
Let's see if they do it without renting a spleen.

I is for Intellisync, and wireless email.
New ideas, more devices, new offerings to boot. They're hard at work on the holy grail.

J is for Jen (and James, Eric and Alex), of MediaLive.
Welcoming Michael to New York in June for CTC 05.

K is for Katrina, my beautiful wife.
Running the home and home schooling so well that I can have a working life.

L is for Lotus, with Notes/Domino 7.
With Web services and DB2 support on board, the Lotus camp is rejoicing in collaboration heaven.

M is for Microsoft, that's Bill, Steve and Ray.
Working hard to stop the beast from going astray.

N is for NextPage, for Tom, Cyd and Mark.
Solving document chaos is clearly their hark.

O is for Oracle, the awesome calendaring dudes.
For leading the pack when other systems just show their rudes.

P is for Projects, for clients and me.
Doing great work and earning my fee.

Q is for Qantas, my international airline of choice.
Good prices, good service, good seats ... engines so reliable they could be Rolls Royce.

R is for Rod and Tim,
Of Aftermail. Giving words of encouragement (and a project!) when all looked grim.

S is for seven, the 7 Pillars framework.
It's had a good reception, so it's not full of pork.

T is for travel, as in international trips.
Visits to LA, New York, Boston, Melbourne, Sydney and San Fran, and mostly in summer to avoid the drips.

U is for unified, the unified collaboration client.
Part one, it is done; part two, has been less reliant.

V is for vacation, the thing that comes soon.
Time with my wonderful family will be such a hoon.

W is for when, as in When 2.0.
It's all about timing in systems, that is helping people to coordinate flow.

X is for XML, and RSS specific.
Has made keeping up-to-date a lot less horrific.

Y is for Yankee, guys and gals with huge ideas, and the gumption to stay.
It's helpful, of course, to find customers willing to pay.

and

Z is for Zimbra, the AJAX-rich email team.
Getting so much good coverage that Satish, Scott and the rest of the guys are sure to beam.

Quick Links, Nov 14

• Story ... Getting Time to Think ... Jeffrey has some ideas on the importance of carving out time to think. Thinking Faster


• Story ... More on Zimbra ... Another take on Zimbra's attempt to "remake email". cbronline.com


• Perspective ... Dealing with Email ... Some context on the overstuffed email inbox, and what to do about it. NY Times


• Partnership ... Microsoft and Open Text ... Microsoft and Open Text announced a new strategic relationship, aimed at the optimization of Open Text's ECM solutions for the Microsoft platform. The partnership will see deeper integration between Open Text's ECM offerings and SharePoint. Two new solutions were also introduced: a records management add-on for SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and new Web Parts to expose Livelink ECM content within Portal Server. CCN Matthews


• Product ... Intradyn ComplianceVault ... Intradyn announced a partnership with Akonix, for the archiving of instant messaging transcripts into Intradyn's ComplianceVault email archiving and retrieval appliance. MarketWire


• Product ... Centra Live for Documentum ... Centra Software announced that Centra Live, a real-time meeting and collaboration offering, achieved EMC Documentum accreditation for its integration with the Documentum Content Server and eRoom. Enables real-time Web conferencing within Documentum's offerings. MarketWire


• Product ... AirSet and Skype ... Airena Inc. integrated AirSet with Skype. AirSet users can now see Skype-based presence, and place Skype calls, from directly within the AirSet interface. Available immediately for Windows XP and 2000, running IE 6.0 or Firefox 1.0. Mac OS X support will be forthcoming. prnewswire.com


• Product ... Alero for SharePoint ... Alero Technology announced Alero for SharePoint, which combines SharePoint with Alero's enterprise repository, content, process and integration capabilities for production document imaging, document management, enterprise report management, content archival, and more. PrimeZone


• Product ... Vasont 10 ... Vasont Systems released Version 10 of its namesake content management product. New capabilities: support for the Oracle 10g database, digital asset management, and search capabilities, among others. prnewswire.com

Quick Links, Nov 10

• Story ... RIM vs. NTP ... The judge presiding over the RIM vs. NTP patent infringement case wants the matter resolved. RIM could be faced with a settlement of up to $1 billion. BusinessWeek


• Story ... Palm on Palm OS ... the Palm OS still has a future, according to Palm officials. Windows Mobile will not be their sole go-to-market strategy. The Inquirer


• Product ... Permeo Base5 ... Permeo announced an add-on for Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, to enable secure remote access from managed and unmanaged endpoints. Permeo


• Strategy ... Visto ... Visto Corporation, a provider of secure mobile push email, announced $70 million of new funding, to be used for global expansion. Visto

Speaking at ... Open Text Webinar on Collaborative Compliance, Nov 29

I am presenting at an upcoming Web seminar for Open Text on November 29, 2005 at 11am PST. The topic is Collaborative Compliance: Complying with Regulations Imposed by External Entities.

Collaborative Compliance is focused on helping organizations get on with their day-to-day work with the assurance that they have covered the compliance mandates of operating in the 21st century. These run the gamut of regulations (including Sarbanes-Oxley) around essential business records and appropriate internal governance controls.

It would be great to have you along! If you are able to attend, please complete the registration form.

Quick Links, Nov 9

• Product ... Apptix SMBLive ... Apptix launched SMBLive, a hosted Windows SharePoint Services-based offering for collaboration, project management, sales support, customer service and other applications. Available via Bell Canada in the short term, and others longer term. prnewswire.com


• Product ... Siemens Mobile dumping Symbian ... Siemens Mobile signalled that they are dropping continued development of smartphones using the Symbian OS, and will instead focus on Microsoft Windows Mobile. msmobiles.com


• Partnership ... Amadeus and EMC Documentum ... Amadeus International announced an ISV relationship with EMC Documentum, for building compliance process control solutions on top of the Documentum content repository. prnewswire.com

Quick Links, Nov 8

• Story ... Business Risks from IM ... Reconnex commented on the business threats/risks from IM. Primary threat: the risk of having corporate data given to others via IM, and not being able to detect it because the IM channel is unmonitored. prnewswire.com


• Story ... 1 million (and 1?) switchers ... Needham & Co. estimates that 1 million Windows users have switched to the Mac platform since the beginning of 2005. Comment: I'm still working on the 1 ... I'm going to check up on him next month! InfoWorld


• Reaction ... Europe Loves NextPage ... The Information Management Awards, a European recognition of excellence and innovation in the management of business information, have shortlisted NextPage as a finalist for Product of the Year and Best Document Management Product of the Year. Winners announced December 1 in London. NextPage


• Product ... Intellisync for GroupWise ... Novell and Intellisync announced an agreement to provide wireless email capabilities for Novell GroupWise customers. Intellisync's technology will be embedded into Novell GroupWise 7. Beta available January 2006. Intellisync


• Product ... Central Desktop Update ... Central Desktop released a major update for its collaborative workspace product. New stuff: revised look and feel, workspace templates, Pillar 6 dashboarding, secure RSS support, and more. Available immediately. Central Desktop


• Product ... Microsoft and Meridio ... Meridio, an ECM player, announced that the next version of its ECM platform will support Microsoft Office 12, and will provide compliance solutions to extend SharePoint (eg, records policy management). Meridio has a big focus on the .NET platform. BusinessWire

And finally, if you missed it, Intranet Journal has an article today entitled The Jury is Out on Microsoft's ECM Plan. Mike references my Strategic Viewpoint report, Microsoft's ECM Platform: Embrace, Tolerate, or Reject?.

Quick Links, Nov 7

• Perspective ... Productivity in "The Zone" ... Good thoughts about getting much done while in "the zone". Productive Strategies


• Product ... Hummingbird Embraces SQL Server 2005 ... Hummingbird announced support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Enables Hummingbird customers to use SQL Server 2005 as their content repository. Hummingbird


• Product ... Interwoven WorkSite MP for Japan ... Interwoven released a Japanese language version of WorkSite MP, its collaborative document management platform. Interwoven


• Product ... Good on Mobile Device Security ... Good Technology added Good Mobile Defense to its product line, for protecting information on mobile devices. Includes server-side capabilities for an end-to-end solution. Includes anti-virus technology from McAfee. Good Technology


• Product ... OpenText and SQL Server 2005 ... Open Text announced that its digital asset management technology, Artesia, will work on Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Until now it has been an Oracle-only solution. Available 1Q2006. Open Text


• Program ... "IMlogic Inside" ... IMlogic launched the "IMlogic Inside" program, to enable others to integrate IM management and security capabilities into existing email and network security solutions. IMlogic