| Scalix email/calendaring turns 10, mates with Evolution |
Feb. 14, 2006
Scalix Corp., which makes open-source enterprise email/calendaring products for Linux desktops, made two announcements Tuesday. It released Scalix 10, the latest version of its bread-and-butter email server software. It also released Scalix Connect for Evolution, an open-source connector that enables use of the Novell Evolution email client on Scalix servers.
Scalix 10 primarily solves the problem of scheduling meetings with users on multiple platforms and across organizational boundaries, the company says. Using open source iCal Exchange software, Scalix 10 enables cross-platform calendaring -- providing transparent exchange of meeting requests and responses between Scalix servers and email systems, such as Microsoft Exchange, Notes/Domino, and GroupWise, the company said.
Scalix 10 is available as both the advanced Enterprise Edition and the free, unlimited-use, Community Edition.
Key improvements in Scalix 10, as listed by the company, include: - Its webmail client, Scalix Web Access (SWA), has an improved enhanced user interface, integrated address book distribution lists, and other functions that enable it to serve as a primary email client
- It now includes ScalixConnect for Evolution, which provides full-function access to Novell Evolution for integrated email, calendar, and contact data, with full interoperability with Microsoft Outlook and SWA
- It offers enhanced Outlook support with digital signatures, group-by and view-by capabilities, faster advanced find, and an advanced rules wizard filter
Scalix's deal to connect with Novell's popular open source Evolution email client provides another option for enterprises interested in moving their email/calendar/collaboration software off proprietary products and onto free and open-source software (FOSS).
Julie Hanna Farris, Scalix founder and chief strategy officer, told DesktopLinux.com that one of the key standard features the Scalix server offers are the public folders into which any user can drop an email document from any platform and make it available to anybody else.
"From the beginning, we've had to walk the line and balance between proprietary and open source software, just as our customers do," Farris said. "We believe that by connecting Evolution with the Scalix server, that we're helping boost it from a second-class [in terms of number of users] application into a class with Outlook."
Farris said that in the open source email/calendaring/collaboration software business, "cooperation is more important than competing. We want to give Linux desktop email users equal footing with Windows users where email and collaboration are concerned. Our hope is that this fills a missing link that will make the Linux desktop a more viable alternative for many organizations."
Among the advanced features included in Scalix Connect for Evolution are:- Calendaring and group scheduling, including free/busy lookup
- Public folder support
- Offline email support
- Full support for Evolution address book and contacts, including public distribution lists
- Full interoperability (email, calendaring, group scheduling and public folders) with other Scalix supported clients (Outlook and Scalix Web Access)
Availability
Scalix 10 is available immediately, in both the advanced Enterprise Edition and the free, unlimited-use Community Edition that can be downloaded here.
Compatible with Evolution 2.4.x, the source code for the Scalix Connect for Evolution project is available for download from GNOME CVS. An executable version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and Fedora Core 4, as well as the source code, can be downloaded here.
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