Information Week: Novell Finally Rolls Out Next- Generation Messaging System
Vowing to hit the market with a new, more aggressive stride, Novell yesterday threw a coming out party in New York for GroupWise 5, the latest generation of its integrated groupware and messaging software.
Scheduled to ship in mid-October, GroupWise 5 offers a universal mailbox that gives users a single access point for calendaring, group scheduling, E-mail, and task management. The client-server messaging system also incorporates document management capabilities that Novell executives claim will bring document management "to the masses." GroupWise functions can be accessed via web browsers or a GroupWise client.
Support for Internet messaging and directory-service protocols such as IMAP, POP, and LDAP is on the way. POP support will be available by the end of the year, and IMAP and LDAP will follow early next year, said Eldon Greenwood, director of GroupWise product management. Also next year, workflow capabilities, which are being developed by FileNet Corp., will be incorporated. All of these enhancements will be made available free on Novell's Web site.
Novell officials acknowledged the company has suffered from a strategy that was all over the technology map. "We weren't focused on a particular market. We were focused on a competitor," said Novell senior vice president Vic Langford. "Now we're focused on one business: networking software."
Linda Myers-Tierney, director of electronic workplace technologies for International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass., says Novell has a superior product, but its lackluster marketing has failed to generate heat in the increasingly competitive groupware market.
But with a more narrow focus, Langford says, Novell is ready to take on Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange in the battle for groupware customers.
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