• Stalker Communicates With Microsoft Outlook
• Sendmail's Groupware
• MDaemon Joins Groupware Fray

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Associate Editor and Amy Newman ServerWatch Managing Editor [October 18, 2002]

Stalker Communicates With Microsoft Outlook
Stalker Software released CommuniGate Pro Groupware. The product uses a Windows API to allow users to retain the Microsoft Outlook desktop client, with its calendaring features, but also allows data center managers to use CommuniGate Pro on the back end.

"Enterprise users continue to demand the functionality of Outlook, but leave IT managers with big problems in the server room: unacceptable downtime, horrendous security issues, high maintenance costs, rising licensing fees, a proliferation of servers, and expensive upgrades," said Vladimir Butenko, president and CEO of Stalker Software.

Added Joanne Menapace, Stalker Software product marketing manager for groupware, "our MAPI connector on the desktop is small, about 200 K, and can be remotely installed and updated. The groupware allows users to schedule meetings, invite people, automatically update changes, reschedule, have private and public meetings, share free/busy information, and share folders."

She said that Microsoft compatibility is merely the first phase of Stalker's three phase groupware plan.

"The second phase will be adding a calendar to the Web interface (we already have Webmail). That's due out near the end of this year. After that, in the third phase, we'll pursue other desktops."

Ali Liptrot, Stalker Software director of sales and marketing, said, "we have a strong history in the Macintosh market. For small- and mid-sized customers up to 1,000 users, our customers are about one-third Macintosh, one-third Linux, and one-third Microsoft. In fact, we support over 30 OS/hardware combinations, including most Linux and Unix flavors."

Liptrot explained that Stalker's development path is driven by customer feedback. "We've been getting calls from people concerned with Microsoft Exchange's forced migration path. We have no charge for two years of upgrades, and our support problems are minimal, allowing us to offer free support via a mailing list and an 800 number."

As a final, bottom line argument, the company released a table detailing the total cost of ownership (TCO) as a comparison between its product and Microsoft's.

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Sendmail's Groupware
The Sendmail Calendar Server is a groupware offering designed to provide enterprises and service providers with cost-effective, advanced calendaring and scheduling technologies that scale with an organization's needs.

Part of Sendmail's Integrated Mail Suite, Sendmail Calendar Server offers calendaring, scheduling, task and contact management, and productivity capabilities.

Sendmail describes the offering as a carrier-class, user-centric Web and wireless solution that enables users to access and manage personal calendars and group schedules from anywhere at any time.

Available immediately, the server is Sendmail's first foray into the growing collaborative application market.

"Calendaring and scheduling are the most widely used collaborative functions next to e-mail," said Wiley Hodges, director of groupware business at Sendmail, "Adding these functions to our product line is a natural progression for Sendmail, Inc. given our already established leadership in the e-mail market."

The Sendmail Calendar Server offers both Web and wireless access. Developed using industry standards, the server supports XML, LDAP, and SMS as well as standard Internet protocols.

The Sendmail Calendar Server enables customization, integration, and extensibility so organizations can integrate with other collaborative applications or create custom applications to meet specific business needs.

The key server features are:

• Wireless access to real-time appointments, tasks, and contacts via WAP and i-mode
• The capability to synchronize appointments, tasks, and contacts with a variety of desktop and handheld personal information managers
• Scheduling-conflict resolution with the capability to view other users' free and busy times while updating information in real time to maintain appointments

Other features include multiple personal, group, and public calendars; time zone conversions; Microsoft Outlook and personal information manager synchronization; personal task lists and task assignments; and list support.

Architectural benefits cited by Sendmail include a template engine that enables rapid customization of the user interface, localization capabilities for European or Asian languages, and full-featured administration to manage multiple domains on a single server.

Sendmail Calendar Server runs on any Sun Server running Solaris 8 and also requires Oracle 8i Enterprise Server (v8.1.7 or higher) to be running.

Sendmail Calendar Server is available immediately. Pricing is on a per-user basis.

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MDaemon Joins Groupware Fray
Alt-N Technologies threw its hat into the groupware ring Tuesday when it unveiled MDaemon Groupware Edition, an offering it will pit against Microsoft Exchange.

Alt-N plans to release MDaemon Groupware Edition later this quarter.

MDaemon Groupware Edition will be an an extended version of Alt-N's IMAP/POP3 mail server. It will support full integration with the group sharing functions of Microsoft's Outlook client.

"We believe MDaemon Groupware Edition is the first complete Windows-based replacement for Exchange Server," Arvel Hathcock, Alt-N chief executive officer said. "Outlook is very popular, and any competitor to Exchange must support Outlook's groupware functions. We are doing this with our new e-mail server product."

MDaemon Groupware Edition addresses these cost, complexity, operating system, and sharing issues, according to Hathcock. "By adding the Outlook sharing connection, MDaemon Groupware Edition makes the full set of Outlook features available without the expense and difficulties of Exchange."

The groupware product integrates with Outlook via a plugin installed on each workstation. The plugin enables Outlook clients to share account folders, calendars, to-do lists, journals, and contacts, as well any other Outlook-specific items.

The plugin tunnels the user's account data between an Outlook client and shareable server-side IMAP folders for the account. The shareable IMAP folders contain the Outlook proprietary data, which is normally accessible only through Exchange. Because the IMAP folders are shareable, other users with accounts on the server can access the proprietary content through their Outlook clients, depending on what folder sharing permissions the account holder sets.

On the client machines, Outlook stores its account data in PST files, the normal storage format for Outlook data. The MDaemon Groupware plugin synchronizes the information between the PST file and the shareable IMAP folders.

Alt-N and Bynari co-developed the technology behind MDaemon Groupware Edition. Bynari also offers a Linux-based product for enterprises looking use Outlook's sharing capabilities with an open source e-mail server.

In addition to Outlook, both Bynari's and Alt-N's servers work with all industry standard POP and IMAP e-mail clients.

Alt-N believes that the timing of MDaemon Groupware Edition's release will prove fortuitous, as Microsoft is requiring Exchange Server users to change operating system software. "The next version of Exchange Server is slated to require an operating system upgrade to .Net Server," Hathcock notes.

"While we did not necessarily plan it this way, this move by Microsoft gives Alt-N an opportunity to present MDaemon Groupware Edition as a very cost-effective alternative to Exchange Server. Our product is much easier to administer and runs effectively on modestly priced hardware and operating systems," he concludes.

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