Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

Quick Links, Apr 11

Vendor Moves

• Traverse CallConnect with RIM and Treo ... Traverse Networks announced that its CallConnect offering is compatible with RIM BlackBerry and Palm Treo devices. CallConnect enables control over corporate voice and voice mail systems from cell phones and other devices. Traverse Networks


• Zimbra Support for Intel-based Macs ... Zimbra announced a version of its Zimbra Collaboration Suite for Intel-based Macs. The new universal version supports both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs in a single deliverable. Zimbra


• SealedMedia 5.0 ... SealedMedia released Version 5.0 of its enterprise digital rights management platform. New features: a new standard administration model, and a Web-based management console, along with features to make Version 5.0 easier to deploy in global organizations. Sealed Media

Other Industry Happenings

• Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration ... Andrew McAfee, a professor at Harvard Business School, published an article in the current edition of the MIT Sloan Management Review about emergent collaboration software in the enterprise, including blogs, wikis and group messaging software. Offers 4 ground rules for implementing new technologies. MIT Sloan Management Review

Quick Links, Apr 10

Vendor Moves

• From Kcentrix to PleaseTech ... Kcentrix Software changed name to PleaseTech Ltd. The PleaseTech name aligns with the branding Kcentrix had been using for its document and content collaboration services, such as PleaseReview. PleaseTech


• ... and Speaking of PleaseReview ... PleaseTech released a new highly secure version of its PleaseReview online revision service, featuring 128 bit SSL encryption. PleaseReview relies on a browser interface to enable distributed authors and editors to finalize material without requiring the emailing around of documents. PleaseTech


• ... and Still Speaking of PleaseReview ... The Think Tank (T3), an Austin TX based advertising agency, has selected PleaseReview to assist with online collaboration around advertising copy. This replaces the disaster that was "Microsoft Word distribution by email to 30 people". T3 is planning toward more extensive client usage. PleaseTech


• XTNDConnect PC for Novell ... iAnywhere released a new version of XTNDConnect PC, its mobile device-to-PC desktop synchronization software. Major new feature: support for Novell GroupWise 6.5 SP2 and 7.0. Available immediately. iAnywhere


• Appian Webinar ... Appian, a provider of business process management software, announced a forthcoming 60 minute webinar, entitled "Collaborative BPM: Connecting People to People", presented by Bruce Silver. It's on Thursday April 13 at 2pm EST. Registration required. Appian


• Google Talk Upgraded ... Google upgraded Google Talk, its instant messaging and presence service. Users can set pictures of themselves and their friends, and can choose themes for chat sessions. Google Talkabout

Quick Links, Apr 7

Positions

• Who Needs to Be On 24x7? ... Gundeep reflects on the "productivity" enhancements of having the RIM BlackBerry, and asks when enough is enough. 2 pages. CoolTechZone

Vendor Moves

• Zimbra Partner Program ... Zimbra announced a partner program for its Zimbra Collaboration Suite, covering both Hosted Service Providers (HSPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Zimbra's initial HSP partners include ABLE Incorporated, Amicus, Contegix, Edgewood Associates, Maccius, MindCentric, RSAWeb, San Mateo Regional Networks, Senokian, Smedia, Voxel dot net, and ZiOffice. Zimbra


• ... and Raises $14.5 Million ... Zimbra also announced that it has raised another $14.5 million in venture funding, with a round led by Presidio STX. Red Herring


• Verizon Instant Messaging ... Verizon Business launched its Hosted Secure Instant Messaging Service, to enable real-time collaboration and communication in the workplace. Includes an enterprise edition, and a managed public IM service. The offerings are based on Microsoft Live Communications Server. Verizon


• Samsung BlackBerry Handheld ... Samsung showed a forthcoming BlackBerry handset, the T719. Includes a 5x4 key simulated QWERTY keyboard. InfoWorld

Quick Links, Apr 5

Vendor Moves

• Visto Research on Mobile Email ... Visto reported on research it contracted RONIN Corporation to do on mobile email. Key findings: 70% of professionals expect mobile email to deliver them greater control over their working day, and provide greater productivity for the boss. Visto, see also the worklife.freedom PDF (6 pages)


• Socialtext Miki ... Socialtext released Miki, a wiki platform optimized for mobile devices, such as the RIM BlackBerry. Comment: Very similar idea to the Parlano MindAlign Mobile idea of last week; this is a neat development by Socialtext. Kudos. Socialtext, with comments at CIO

Amicus Embraces Zimbra, Apr 5

Robert Matney from Amicus, which describes itself as "the leading application service provider (ASP) of outsourced messaging and compliance solutions to the financial services industry and firms across the business spectrum", recently left a comment on this site about Amicus's hosting of Zimbra. Robert commented that Amicus:

"[has] been thrilled with ZCS' ability to help us connect more effectively"

I followed up with Robert by email, and asked what he meant by that. Here's his response, quoted with permission:

By 'connect' here I simply mean collaborate. Using the ZCS group calendaring, our office manager knows when the CEO is available for appointments, we all know which Operations team member is on call, which engineering resources are available at any given point, and how our weekly team meetings are structured. The shared contacts give us team visibility and reduce the email chatter. And the self-integration within Zimbra of the email, calendaring and contact management helps our efficiency. In part because we are a multi-platform office environment (Linux, Mac OS, and Windows of various stripes), we had not previously achieved this level of electronic collaboration.

In summary, Zimbra has been very helpful in our effort to tilt at the windmill of info silos, and labor isolation. And we think that's groovy. So we are a hosting partner and are integrating our various tools and services to make Zimbra an even richer experience for our clients.

What a great testimonial from a customer-turned-business partner. What's been your experience with Zimbra at your place?

Quick Links, Apr 4

Positions

• Isaac on The Good in Email ... Isaac over at Central Desktop has been thinking long and hard about what's good in email, and what collaboration vendors need to do as a result. Central Desktop Blog

Vendor Moves

• Interwoven for Microsoft ... Interwoven updated the world on the progress it is seeing due to its relationship with Microsoft. Progress includes integration between SharePoint and Interwoven, co-marketing and co-sales work, and alignment around the technology roadmap. Interwoven


• Interwoven on "Customer Experience Management" ... Interwoven introduced the Interwoven Customer Experience Solution, for automating the processes dealing with content creation, approval and publishing for customer-facing places. "Customer Experience Management" is a new label for a collection of established product categories, eg, document management, digital asset management, and more. Interwoven, with a discussion at Intelligent Enterprise


• IBM WebSphere Portal 6.0 ... IBM announced Version 6.0 of WebSphere Portal, its corporate portal platform. Enhanced features: greater ability to create and work with composite applications (for assembling applications and process components to address business needs), workflow builder, and new content management capabilities, among others. Available 3Q2006. IBM


• FaceTime Enterprise Edition with IMAuditor 7.0 ... FaceTime announced Version 7.0 of Enterprise Edition with IMAuditor, its enterprise IM management platform. New features: Skype 2.0 support, support for logging and archiving of chat sessions within WebEx meetings, revised UI, and enhanced reporting, among others. Available immediately. FaceTime


• Intermedia.NET Offers $20 Bounty ... Intermedia.NET, a provider of hosted Microsoft Exchange, is offering $20 to any Lotus Notes and Domino shop that migrates to its hosted Exchange service. The CEO calls it a "symbolic offer" in light of IBM's significant offer. PRWeb

Other Industry Happenings

• Mobile Business Expo 2006 ... The Mobile Business Expo is on in Chicago from October 31-November 3, 2006. The conference organizers are calling for papers. MobileBusinessExpo.com

Quick Links, Apr 3

Vendor Moves

• Colligo for SharePoint ... Colligo Networks released two new offline tools for SharePoint: Colligo Reader for SharePoint, and Colligo Contributor for SharePoint. Reader provides one-way synchronization of SharePoint sites for offline reading, and Contributor enables users to modify SharePoint content when offline for automatic upload when a network connection is next established. Available immediately; Reader is free, and Contributor is $99 per user. Colligo Networks, Product Information (see whitepaper), Colligo's Offline SharePoint Blog



• XMLAW WorkSite Search Module ... XMLAW released a search tool that enables SharePoint searches to include documents, folders and workspaces stored in Interwoven WorkSite. The WorkSite Search Module can index attributes on WorkSite documents, folders and workspaces. PRWeb


• Coveo Enterprise Search 4.0 ... Coveo Solutions released Version 4.0 of Coveo Enterprise Search and Coveo Enterprise Search for SharePoint. Both permit seamless searching across multiple enterprise content repositories, scalability and load-balancing, and international language support. The SharePoint search product is tightly integrated with SharePoint. Available immediately. Coveo


• New Versions of Scalix ... Scalix released three new editions of its email and calendaring software: Scalix Small Business Edition ($995 for 50 users, support for Novell Evolution client, and more), Scalix Appliance (plug-n-play, available from Scalix resellers), and Scalix Community Edition Raw (free, but is easier to make customization to). An Enterprise Edition is also available. Scalix, see more at Community Edition Raw press release, and the Scalix Appliance press release.


• Symantec IM Manager 8.0 ... Symantec released Version 8.0 of Symantec IM Manager, the first release of a Symantec-branded edition of IMlogic IM Manager after the acquisition. Protects organizations from the hazards associated with instant messaging. Includes out-of-the-box integration with Symantec Enterprise Vault for IM transcript archiving. Available in North America later in April. Symantec

Quick Links, Apr 2

Vendor Moves

• IBM Migrate to the Penguin Program ... IBM announced a new initiative to encourage business partners to help customers migrate from Microsoft Exchange to Lotus Domino and Notes on Linux. Business partners can earn up to $20,000 for migration customers, at $20 per seat. IBM also introduced a hosted "Proof of Concept" offering to enable customers to trial Notes and Domino prior to acquisition. IBM


• Esko WebCenter 6.0 ... Esko released Version 6.0 of WebCenter, its web-based collaboration offering for players in the packaging supply chain. Features: job viewing, markup and approval functions, discussion threads, and file sharing, among others. Works in combination with the BackStage workflow server. Esko

Quick Links, Mar 31

Top News
Parlano Mobile is Coming 2Q2006

A couple of days ago, Parlano announced an agreement with Nokia to license its Intellisync wireless messaging software so that it could create a mobile client for MindAlign, its persistent chat offering. This is a very exciting development, and in a nutshell, here's why: the majority of knowledge workers are mobile at some point during the day, and being disconnected from group-oriented collaboration systems when mobile is a major killer of productivity and effectiveness (as was discussed in Pillar 2 (Location Independence). More fully, as new software technology enters the enterprise to enable people to work together, to share information, to coordinate and collaborate, workers become reliant on that as a way of doing business. If there is only a desktop edition available, as soon as someone steps away from their desk, or is in a location where a WiFi connection for their laptop is not possible, feasible or polite, they are disconnected from business. That's a bad thing.

I've just hung up from a conversation with Nick Fera, Chairman & CEO of Parlano (with thanks to Kate Sternberg from Ruder Finn for coordinating logistics). We spoke in depth about the forthcoming mobile offering, and here are some of the key takeaways from our discussions:

• There's a New Wireless Server to Deploy. The Mobile client will talk through a new wireless server, tentatively called "MindAlign Mobile, powered by Nokia". It will perform similar functions to what wireless email servers do today; creating secure connections between the server and the client, appropriately dealing with the firewall, etc. As you would expect, users can access their MindAlign channels with the same log on details.


• Support for Three Device Families from Day One. Wireless-capable devices from Research In Motion, Windows Mobile, and Palm will be supported with the Mobile client from day one. This allows MindAlign Mobile to fit directly into the existing installed infrastructure within customers sites.


• Channels and Alerts. From the desktop MindAlign client, users can select specific MindAlign channels to take mobile. The mobile device then displays these and permits the mobile user to scroll between them and participate in them. There is a second capability delivered also, and that is an alerting functionality. Given the number of channels that people are involved with on an ongoing basis, it is unlikely that someone will take every channel mobile. However, they still need the ability to keep track of what is going on in specific areas. Therefore, users will be able to set up server-side rules to request an alert whenever certain keywords are discussed in certain channels by certain people, and when the server notices that, an alert will be pushed to the device.


• Incremental Pricing, Not Yet Finalized. There will be a charge for the MindAlign Mobile server, along with an incremental charge for users that are enabled for mobile access. Parlano expects that about 20-30% of its customers will immediately opt for mobile access, with that number eventually growing to almost 100%.

Nick said that he is hoping to have a final or near-final version of the mobile client available to show at the upcoming Collaborative Technologies Conference in Boston MA in June, where he will be a panelist in the Mobility Track on Thursday morning.

In summary, this is a very good and highly appropriate move by Parlano. It will make a big positive difference to customers. Bring it on!

Podcast Available: Parlano's Bob Serr (CTO) and Jeff Schultz (SVP, Worldwide Marketing) discuss Parlano's mobile access vision in a 12 minute podcast. Note that the podcast leads off with a discussion on IM and persistent group chat federation, with the mobile segment starting at 8m 50s.

Vendor Moves

• ASP-One Does GoodLink ... ASP-One, a managed messaging provider, announced plans to offer the GoodLink Wireless Messaging service against its Hosted Exchange offering. GoodLink is a product from Good Technology, and compete with Research In Motion's BlackBerry Enterprise Server. PRWeb


• Marratech for Mac OS X ... Marratech released its real-time collaboration client for Intel-based Macs. The client provides voice and Web-based conferencing and collaboration capabilities. TMCnet


• EMC Releases SMB Line ... EMC's recently announced Insignia line of hardware and software products aimed at the SMB market is now available. This includes EMC eRoom SMB Edition, a collaborative workspace offering, with pricing starting at $495 for five users. BusinessWire

Quick Links, Mar 29

Positions

• Tools for Enterprise Mobility ... A look at a number of new tools and key trends around enterprise mobility. Discussion covers: (a) device choice proliferation; (b) review of a number of enterprise-oriented devices, including Treo 700W, Motorola Q, and the BlackBerry 8700c, among others; (c) Bluetooth; and (d) next-generation handsets. Sci-Tech Today


• Conversation with RIM's David Heit ... "Our solution is moving away from just the executive suite into the hands of the greater mobile workforce". Discusses wireless-application enablement, future things from RIM, and more. Unstrung

Vendor Moves

• Parlano MindAlign Goes Mobile ... Parlano announced an agreement with Nokia's Intellisync division, for licensing wireless software to enable Parlano to build a mobile version of its MindAlign collaboration offering. The MindAlign Mobile Client will support multiple devices (RIM, Windows Mobile, and Palm), offer presence, and provide for encrypted and secured local data. Due 2Q2006. Parlano


• Parlano Edge Services ... Parlano announced Parlano Edge Services, a services and support engagement to help customers be successful in deploying the MindAlign real-time collaboration solution. Options include a Business track and a Technical track. Parlano


• Kubi Software and Delta Consulting ... Kubi Software announced a solutions partnership agreement with Delta Consulting, for the integration of Kubi's Enable for Sales Workflow Management offering with Delta's SAP offerings. Will enable joint customers to use Kubi's collaborative offering for sales coordination within SAP. Kubi Software


• Avantel and WebEx ... Avantel and WebEx announced a partnership to offer a suite of business-process specific Web collaboration applications to the Mexican market. Net Conference, the new offering, combines Avantel's existing audio conferencing service with WebEx's Web conferencing service. WebEx