TechworkLife

Comments on Zimbra Collaboration Suite

Recent experiences with Zimbra Collaboration Suite implementation have been relatively good. The quality of the experience certainly depends on the host provider (if that's how it is served to the the user community). Our first hosting company decided they really didn't want to do Zimbra and we got that sense even before they admitted it. You need to check the ability of the host to give you 24/7 response on trouble tickets and make appropriate upgrades without cutting off your staff. So far the 01.com service has been up to par and pricing is somewhat better than other hosts considered. There are drop-in appliances from other providers that are fairly reasonable if your organization is 100+ users (that justifies the licensing) and you then get full server command (I investigated SMedia). Otherwise your domain admin does most of what you will ever need.

When you consider the backup tapes, spam concerns, licensing, equipment costs, etc., the offsite hosting of mail becomes attractive. Something on the order of $5-$7 per user per month can be obtained, with storage rates that vary. Zimbra is also offering a archiving and search capability for any Sarbanes-Oxley compliance issues. Of course with the new client that might be avoided by the smart IT Manager who can arrange proper backups at the local machine. Most clients you may use with the service can archive in one way or another.

I am looking forward to the use of the Zimbra desktop client that will give offline use of the mail and provide the desktop experience that many users like. Of course you can always hook IMAP up to Apple Mail or Outlook and work from there, but the integration of their own client will be of great interest. For Macintosh users, a fully qualified desktop will avoid the clumsy use of iCal AND Apple mail. Things still seem stuck in Beta versions for the past year, so it would be nice to get a "gold" version installed for once.

Teh recent upgrade to version web client version 5 seems worthwhile.

Here's what Zimbra folks say are the newest features:

New features in ZCS 5.0 include:

* Native e-mail, contacts, calendar, and task synchronization from Zimbra to Outlook 2007

* Access Zimbra on all BlackBerry handsets, J2ME enabled devices, or any mobile web browser, including the Apple iPhone

* Zimbra Tasks monitor start and due dates, priority, progress, and percent complete of tasks

* Built directly into ZCS, Web-based Instant Messaging supports multiple conversations and group chats

* Conveniently store any file from an e-mail in Zimbra Briefcase instead of as an e-mail attachment; easily share Briefcase folders with others

* Work online or offline with Zimbra Desktop, the AJAX experience for Zimbra users and users of existing POP and IMAP e-mail servers

* Share inboxes and e-mail folders with others, including the ability to provide read- only-access or allow others to completely manage

* Fifteen fully certified languages ship within ZCS for end-users to choose

And they will be constantly trying to tie in Yahoo! services as well (since they just were purchased by Yahoo!). The Microsoft purchase would, I think, put the effort of platform independence in jeopardy. MS can't seem to leave well enough alone, but they should think before messing with what is winning online (can you say Google?) because they are obviously driving down the wrong online highway at present.