Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

Quick Links, Mar 11

Top News
Microsoft Establishing LCS with Partners
Microsoft was late to the enterprise instant messaging game, but now that it has committed itself to a separate server play, it continues to position its Office Live Communications Server for long-term success, this time through expanded relationships with voice players. As Microsoft enfolds more and more partners in the LCS ecosystem, it (a) becomes progressively more difficult for the customer to migrate to something else, because they lose the interdependencies, and (b) new entrant or competing vendors find that the list of tick boxes required to play the game continues to get longer. Microsoft's ability to hold together a coalition of vendors in pursuit of delivering to an overall value proposition definitely makes it more difficult for smaller and niche players.

In partnership with Avaya, customers with both Avaya MultiVantage Communications Applications and Microsoft Office Communicator will be able to:

• Use the Microsoft Office Communicator client to dial Avaya telephony endpoints


• Use Microsoft Office Communicator to view the Avaya phone status and presence availability of others


• Use Microsoft Office Communicator to initiate or answer phone calls, and then use the PC or an Avaya desk phone to conduct the call

Microsoft and Avaya plan to deliver the first of their joint offerings in 4Q2006.

In partnership with Cisco Systems, customers with both the Cisco Unified Communications system and Microsoft LCS and Office Communicator will be able to accomplish similar tasks as with the Avaya integration. In addition, users will be able to transparently escalate from an Office Communicator IM session to a Cisco-powered voice session. The joint offering is expected in August 2006.

Positions

• Beyond Calendar 1.0 ... Ross Dargahi, Co-Founder and VP of Engineering at Zimbra, talks about requirements and needs for future calendaring systems, and the role of a service-oriented architecture and open standards in delivering an integrated and intelligent calendaring environment. It's a 3 minute video. ZDNet


• Choosing a Mobile Email System ... In four easy steps: (1) look for compatibility with the corporate email system, (2) look for compatibility with handsets in use at the company, (3) ensure that the mobile networks you use provide the required data services, and (4) compare features delivered with upfront and ongoing costs. VNUnet


• Steve on Microsoft's Collaboration Strategy ... Steve reflects on his outstanding concerns with Microsoft's collaboration strategy. Steve Richards

New Blogs

• TimeBridge is Coming ... In an email to registered beta users, Yori Nelken said that TimeBridge's forthcoming meeting scheduling service will be available for beta testing in 4-6 weeks. The TimeBridge team have recently started a company blog. TimeBridge (home page; sign up for the beta program)


• Foldera Company Blog ... Speaking of company blogs, Foldera is blogging too. The blog is currently in beta, and the initial post seems to have gone astray. I hope it returns shortly ... Foldera


• Colligo Blog on Offlining SharePoint ... The team at Colligo Networks are running a blog on offlining SharePoint, in order to examine and explore the requirements users have in this area. Offline SharePoint

Vendor Moves

• RIM Released BES 4.1 ... RIM released Version 4.1 of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, as well as a Small Business Edition thereof. New features: single interface for managing multiple BES servers, group-based administration, enterprise instant messaging integration, and audit logs for PIN and SMS messaging, among others. Available immediately. RIM


• Google Acquired Writely ... Google acquired Writely, a start-up offering a Web-based collaborative word processor. GoogleBlog, with coverage at ZDNet, Motley Fool, and PCWorld

Other Industry Happenings

• Virtual Teams Research ... One UK and two German-based Universities are collaborating on a research project focused on virtual teams. From vt-research.com: "The interest of the research project is to explore the notion of virtual teams as a new phenomenon within today's working environments. Special interests of the research include the interrelations between the managerial perspective of virtual teams and the effects of "teaming in the virtual" on the involved individuals within specific team configurations in the virtual". There is an online survey up for people interested in the area. Virtual Teamwork Survey

Quick Links, Mar 8

Top News
What Does "650,000 Signups" Mean?
Foldera announced yesterday that it has received 650,000 requests for beta accounts of its Activity Folders hosted collaboration service in the three weeks since it came out of the shadows. That's a big number for three weeks. I wonder what exactly that number represents, however: is it:
(a) the number of individuals who have visited the Foldera home page and filled out the sign-up form; or
(b) the number of individuals who have visited the Foldera home page and filled out the sign-up form MULTIPLIED by the number of employees they say work at their firm.

Foldera is fully within its rights to say "650,000", but it should be more clear as to which of the two measures above it is actually using. If (a), and the beta database can be independently audited to provide confirmatory data, then it's an incredible achievement. If (b), then the 650,000 is hugely overstating Foldera's traction and interest. What number would be closer for individual sign-ups if it is (b)?

Let's do some math. Here's the "number of employees" drop-down list from the Foldera signup page, which incidently has the field name of "howmany".

Applying a distribution of individual subscribers across these ranges, based on some guesses about the normal distribution about firm sizes across the world (feel free to grumble about the numbers), I get an actual and "real" beta subscriber count of just under 6,500.

So whether it is 650,000 or 6,500 individual subscribers, as we all know, the metric that truly counts is the number of those beta requests that actually transition to decent real usage. Whilst "650,000" gives some indication of good forward momentum, it is actual users on a live service that will determine Foldera's longevity or otherwise.

Foldera is a client of Shared Spaces.

Near-Time.net Hosted Collaboration Service
I had a briefing earlier today with Reid Conrad and Pat Polinski of Near-Time, Inc., along with Bob Geller of their PR firm, Fusion Public Relations. We were discussing (and exploring) their recently announced Near-Time.net hosted collaboration service. We covered a lot of ground, and it was good to get some hands-on exposure to the service.

There are three core tools within a Near-Time workspace: "News" (a blog with comments, etc), "Pages" (in wiki style, enabling group editing of shared content), and "Events" (a group calendar). Layered on top of these tools are notification and recent update options, file upload overviews, and membership settings.

Some of the themes that we explored during the call were:

• To what degree do you take a "blank canvas" approach to tooling vs. a structured and template-oriented one. In the former, the workspace product offers a standardized set of tools to the team regardless of the purpose to which they want to use the space for. In the latter, the provider overlays some a priori structure onto the tools according to a number of general use cases to which teams put the workspace tool.


• What design choices make sense for hard-core and frequent users of a specific space, compared to those design choices that make sense for those user who are only intermittently involved.


• What points of integration to the user's desktop and existing productivity applications make sense for workspace oriented tools that are "out-there" on the Web? How do you balance offering an outsourced service that minimizes its impact on the user's IT infrastructure, whilst also introducing stickiness to encourage ongoing usage and adoption.

The discussion was good, made me think, and reminded me of what a great group of people are involved in this industry. Keep up the good work Reid, Pat and others on the Near-Time team!

Finally, given their Mac heritage, it was great to see an application that respected my browser of choice, Safari, eg, when working on a wiki page in the "Pages" tool. Kudos.

Vendor Moves

• Microsoft Acquired Onfolio ... Microsoft announced the acquisition of Onfolio, a provider of software that enables people to accumulate and organize collections of research data from the Web and then share that collection with others. The Onfolio technology has been incorporated into the Windows Live Toolbar. Microsoft, with coverage at Boston Business and CMPnetAsia


• RIM On-Campas WLAN Support ... Research In Motion announced 802.11b wireless LAN support in the BlackBerry 7270 handheld, in conjunction with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and an existing WLAN infrastructure. Also enables voice-over-IP telephony, with interoperability tested with Cisco Unifed CallManager 5.0. RIM


• 46% Improvement in a Process at HP ... HP reports that its adoption of collaborative technology in its sales collateral development process has resulted in a 46% time compression in process duration, from 39 days to 21 days. CollaborationLoop


• Alfresco Gets $8m ... Alfresco, the open-source enterprise content management start-up, landed $8 million in a Series B round of capital raising. Accel and Mayfield Fund co-lead the round. ContentWire


• Open-Xchange Server 5 Released ... Open-Xchange, Inc. released Version 5 of its namesake enterprise email and calendaring server. New and upgraded capabilities: better integration with Microsoft Outlook, extended search capabilities, RSS feed support, and improved project management visualization, among others. Available immediately. lxer.com


• Google Calendar ... Google Calendar, code-named (?) "CL2", is coming ... sometime. Key features: threaded layering of multiple calendars, event discovery capabilities, Gmail integration, subscription feeds for desktop calendar integration, among others. Released date unknown; CL2 is in closed-beta with about 200 beta testers. TechCrunch


• Marratech Manager Lite ... Marratech released Marratech Manager Lite, a version of its multi-party audio, video, whiteboarding, chat and web collaboration client for 5-10 users. Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Intentionally lacks advanced capabilities required by enterprise customers, but can be upgraded if/when the client needs them. tmcnet.com


• Re Origami ... I want one ... and hopefully I can get one before Eric or Rod ;-) Shallow, I know. CNET News

Quick Links, Mar 7

Top News
RIM and NTP Settle Out of Court for $612.5 Million
RIM, its carrier partners, and its customers are out of the woods, given RIM's out-of-court settlement with NTP for a one time payment of $612.5 million. The court has dismissed the case, and no further decisions are needed or pending. The settlement and payment covers all current and future NTP patents. At the hearing on February 24, Judge Spencer scolded the two sides for not coming to an earlier out-of-court agreement.

As Dan Taylor at the Mobile Enterprise Alliance wrote, it is weird that RIM settled when it (a) said that it had a non-infringing technology workaround ready-to-go, and (b) the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected all of NTPs patents.

Customers are happy that this whole mess is behind them, and rightly so. It shouldn't have come to this. The stock market was happy too, with shares rising and expected to rise more now that the uncertainty is over.

Other Links: ComputerWorld, SearchMobileComputing, The Hamilton Spectator, Dan Taylor at Mobile Enterprise Alliance, CBC News

EMC Buys Authentica, Overlooks Two Other Closer Fits
EMC Corporation acquired privately-held Authentica, a digital rights management player. EMC intends to add Authentica's capabilities to its Documentum content management and eRoom collaborative workspaces products. Pricing wasn't disclosed, but one estimate put the deal at $75 million.

Two other players in the digital rights management space were overlooked in the acquisition. Both SealedMedia and Liquid Machines have out-of-the-box products to enforce digital rights on Documentum-controlled or originated content, and SealedMedia offers an out-of-the-box product for enforcing digital rights with content in eRoom. Authentica offered neither.

Neither EMC nor Authentica have done the press release thing yet to acknowledge the acquisition.

Other Links: InternetNews, Enterprise Storage Forum, SC Magazine, Byte and Switch

Positions

• Paul on Microsoft's Red Bull ... Paul Mooney analyzed the official Application Analyzer 2006 for Notes, and posts his reaction. Ed Brill

Vendor Moves

• Zimbra and Apple iSync ... Zimbra released the Zimbra iSync Adaptor, enabling Zimbra users on the Mac to synchronize calendar and contact information between the two platforms. Supports native sync with Apple iCal (calendar) and Apple Address Book (contacts). Offers time-based automatic synchronization. Zimbra


• SNARF for Outlook ... Microsoft Research has been working on SNARF, a utility to scan unread email to determine its importance to the user. Works with Microsoft Outlook. Search Exchange, Microsoft Research


• Foldera to 650,000 in 3 Weeks ... Foldera disclosed that it has received beta requests from over 650,000 users. The hosted service was to be formally launched at the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference today. Yahoo


• RIM BES 4.1 adds IM ... The Version 4.1 update of RIM BlackBerry Enterprise Server will add corporate instant messaging interoperability, linking with Microsoft Live Communications Server, Lotus Sametime, and Novell GroupWise Messenger. Due end of March 2006. VNUnet.com


• Open-Xchange Partner Program ... Open-Xchange, an email provider, unveiled a new sales and marketing partnership program, a formalization of what is currently going on, with two levels of membership: Member-level and Certified-level. Open-Xchange claims that it currently has 300 partners in 40 countries. prnewswire.com


• FileNet Integrates with SharePoint ... FileNet announced an agreement with Vorsite to offer the Vorsite Enterprise Integration Toolkit as a preconfigured module for integrating FileNet Content Manager and SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Strategiy

Quick Links, Mar 2

Positions

• Email Wish List ... Some users chime in on the new features and functions they would like to see in email. IHT

Vendor Moves

• Sprint and US Government on Wireless Email ... Sprint announced that the GSA of the US Government awarded it a contract modification, enabling it to offer GoodLink for wireless email and messaging to government agencies. GoodLink works with Palm Treo and Windows Mobile devices. BusinessWire


• Joyent is On ... Joyent announced the launch of its hosted Web-based team collaboration service, for organizing and sharing team files, calendars, contacts and emails. There are three monthly usage plans on offer, starting at $15 for four users. Available immediately. prnewswire.com


• Microsoft Expands Beta Program for Exchange 12 ... Microsoft expanded the beta program of Exchange 12 to another 200,000 sites. The first beta release in December 2005 only went to 1,400 sites. Available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions, although on the 64-bit edition will move into production and be shipped. InfoWorld

Quick Links, Mar 1

Positions

• In the moment ... Nice piece from Jeffrey about "being in the moment" as a way of maximizing productivity. Thinking Faster

Vendor Moves

• Hosted Zimbra ... Zimbra announced the initial list of its hosting partners. The hosting partner runs the server, and you get all the end-user features. Zimbra


• Microsoft on Groove 2007 ... A few articles around on Groove 2007. Most point to the idea that Groove 2007 will be the offline store for Windows SharePoint Services. Comment: There were some disclosures from Microsoft last year about Outlook 2007 being able to offline some WSS lists too. Will be interesting to see what actually gets done, and whether users get too confused. reseller.co.nz


• Socialtext Pricing Revamp ... Socialtext revised its pricing model, adding a free option for groups of up to 5 users. Socialtext


• Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino ... Microsoft released the oft-discussed Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino, and a corresponding white paper. Peter de Haas

Other Industry Happenings

• Webinar: "Embedding Collaboration and Publisher Services in Applications" ... BEA Systems is hosting a Webinar on Thursday March 9 about embedding collaborative and publishing capabilities in applications. BEA Systems

Quick Links, Feb 28

Positions

• Groupware 2.0 Startups ... Scott writes about the SF Tech Session last week, at which Kerio, Joyent and Zimbra presented their wares. Scott was most impressed with the Joyent product. Scott McMullan


• The Secret of Professional Success in One Word ... Michael Hyatt says "responsiveness". His basic rule: respond immediately unless there is a good reason to wait. Michael Hyatt

Vendor Moves

• Public Folders ... Public Folders in Exchange will be supported in Exchange 12 and Outlook 2007, thus providing investment protection through to 2016. Microsoft recommends that new collaborative applications are built on Windows SharePoint Services, however. Exchange Blog


• Future BlackBerry Devices ... RIM is planning on adding digital camera and music playing capabilities to future editions of its RIM BlackBerry devices. Chicago Tribune


• Near-Time.net Service ... Near-Time released the beta of its hosted Near-Time.net collaboration service, providing collaborative workspace capabilities. Access is via a Web browser. Supports blog APIs, email, RSS feeds and more. Available at no charge during the beta program. Local Tech Wire, Near-Time, MacObserver

Other Industry Happenings

• Work More, Accomplish Less ... According to a recent DayTimers study, workers are only completing 66% of their work each day, compared with 75% of their work in 1994. Biggest problem: people try to multi-task since they can due to new technology, and therefore they don't focus and concentrate on a single task. Yahoo News. Some thoughts on being productive: properly identify the work of the moment, and be careful when blurring the lines between work and play.