Novell Outfits GroupWise with Internet Integration
Received: September 30, 1996 06:23am EDT From: PC Week
From PC Week for September 30, 1996 by Paula Rooney
Novell Inc. is moving ahead with plans to more closely integrate its
GroupWise 5 client/server messaging system with the Internet.
The Orem, Utah, company plans to turn GroupWise's key groupware
features--E-mail, calendaring and scheduling--into Java applets that
will be downloadable from the World Wide Web, officials said.
The Java applets will be available during the first half of next year,
officials said, adding that Novell has not committed to support
Microsoft Corp.'s Java alternative, ActiveX.
In addition, Novell pledged to support IMAP4 (Internet Messaging
Accessing Protocol 4) in GroupWise in the first quarter of 1997 and LDAP
(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) in the first half of next year,
officials said.
IMAP4 enables users to store messages on an Internet-based server. LDAP
allows Internet clients such as browsers to access and search the
GroupWise directory for user addresses.
As part of the next major upgrade for GroupWise, code-named Jefferson,
Novell plans to extend the document management capabilities of GroupWise
to browsers and other Internet clients, officials said. Novell already
includes SoftSolutions Inc.'s document management technology in
GroupWise, a feature that distinguishes it from the other leading
groupware platforms, including Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes and
Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange.
Jefferson will make it possible for GroupWise users to easily publish to
and access shared documents from the Web. Documents will reside in the
GroupWise server library and will be dynamically published to the Web by
a server process whenever they are requested by a user. Changes made by
the author to the content or the access privileges of the document will
be automatically reflected on the Web, officials said.
In addition, users looking for specific information on corporate
intranets will be able to search specific GroupWise libraries and will
receive full-text indexes of specific documents rather than URLs,
officials said.
Another effort under way is to infuse the GroupWise client with workflow
features in the company's GroupWise Workflow package.
Analysts said that Novell is smart to parlay the document management and
workflow capabilities of GroupWise. "Novell is behind Microsoft and
Lotus on the Internet, but the strong document management capabilities,
such as the check-in/check-out capabilities, are good. [And] the issues
of managing Web sites is important," said David Marshak, a vice
president with the Patricia Seybold Group, in Boston. |
