Collaboration: April 2009 Archives

Zoho has announced access and usability enhancements for mobile users of its suite of productivity applications. Until now, Zoho offered mobile access to only a few applications and did not do so in a consistent manner. Each application had a unique mobile access URL and interface. With today's announcement, all mobile-enabled Zoho applications may be accessed at one location, http://m.zoho.com, and they share a common look and feel.

The following applications are currently available at Zoho Mobile:

• Zoho Mail
• Zoho Calendar
• Zoho Writer
• Zoho Sheet
• Zoho Show
• Zoho Creator

Zoho also announced support for additional mobile platforms.  Previously, its mobile applications were available only on the iPhone and Windows Mobile, with limited functionality on the latter. Zoho Mobile is now available for:   

• iPhone
• Windows Mobile
• Blackberry
• Symbian
• Android

Palm access is anticipated in a future release.

The text of Zoho's announcement may be found on the company's blog.

PBworks, formerly known as PBwiki (the company officially announced the name change this week), a  provider of hosted collaboration solutions for business and education, announced the launch of PBworks Legal Edition, the first of the company's market-specific solutions. PBworks Legal Edition applies hosted collaboration to the unique business needs of law firms and corporate counsel. PBworks Legal Edition includes all of the features of PBworks Professional Plus, such as unlimited storage for documents and files, full-text search of document content, Mobile Edition access via Blackberry and iPhone, and 24/7 customer service. The new solution adds complete audit logs of all activity, built-in legal templates that firms can customize for their business processes, and bundled professional services to optimize the rollout and adoption process. PBworks Legal Edition is available immediately at a starting price of $50/attorney-user/month. Licenses for paralegals, legal secretaries, and other staff and clients are included for free. http://pbworks.com/, http://pbwiki.com

Qwaq, Inc. released Qwaq Forums 2.0. The second-generation, secure virtual workspace platform delivers new collaboration features such as Smart Rooms, which automatically collate reports from multiple applications, just in time for scheduled meetings. Forums 2.0 also provides Web browser access to workspace assets, as well as DVR functionality for recording and sharing virtual meetings. Qwaq Forums enables an environment for teams to share information, communicate, and execute real-time document editing and workflows. Qwaq vPresence technology securely combines multi-application sharing, presence, VoIP, text chat, and webcam video. Qwaq Enterprise Servers can be deployed behind the corporate firewall, or organizations can use the hosted SaaS version for rapid deployment and third-party collaboration. Qwaq supports a broad range of applications and document formats, and integrates closely with enterprise identity and security infrastructure. Qwaq Forums 2.0 is available immediately, with pricing starting at $60/month per user. Download the free 30-day trial at http://www.qwaq.com/

Microsoft Corp. released a public beta of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, part of Microsoft's unified communications family. Exchange 2010 is part of the next wave of Microsoft Office-related products and is the first server in a new generation of Microsoft server technology built from the ground up to work on-premises and as an online service. This release of Exchange 2010 introduces an integrated e-mail archive and features to help reduce costs and improve the user experience. The next wave, which includes Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010, is designed to give people a consistent experience across devices, making it easier to create and edit documents and collaborate from any location. In addition, to help businesses reduce costs, the next wave will introduce new delivery and licensing models, improve deployment and management options for IT professionals, and provide developers with an expanded platform on which to create applications. Exchange Server 2010 will become available in the second half of 2009. Additional Office products including Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010 are scheduled to enter technical preview in the third quarter of 2009 and release to manufacturing in the first half of 2010. A public beta of the server is available for download starting today at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010