Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Database

    Colligo Syncs with IBM Workplace on Database Replication

    By
    Lisa Vaas
    -
    May 12, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Colligo Networks on Monday announced a plug-in that will support IBMs Workplace Client Technology, Micro Edition—also known as Workplace Micro Environment (WCTME) Version 5.7—which IBM also announced Monday. Colligos plug-in is designed to enable secure, private database replication and peer-to-peer messaging.

      The plug-in, named Colligo Enterprise Edition, is slated for fourth-quarter release. According to Barry Jinks, president and CEO of Colligo Networks Inc., the software is designed to take advantage of the “intermittent” mode in the three modes IBM Workplace is designed to cover: connected, disconnected and intermittent modes.

      Colligo views “intermittent” as a description of when workers are disconnected from a network but connected to their coworkers, as would happen with a team of employees in the field—for example, a team of accountants on-site at a client location. In such a scenario, Colligo collaborators could replicate data back and forth via an Ethernet, wireless or any such IP connection.

      Jinks described IBMs new Workplace offerings as being revolutionary in that the server-managed client architecture offers the total cost of ownership of a thin-client browser when youre not connected to the Internet.

      “Thats important. We need a thick client on the desktop for people to use in the field,” Jinks said in Vancouver. “With a browser-based architecture, like a portal, IT has the advantage of managing the software centrally. You can change it on the server, and its reflected immediately through the browser.”

      /zimages/4/28571.gifClick here to read about Cloudscape, the Informix embedded database thats popped up in IBMs new Workplace technology.

      Colligo Enterprise Edition works with Outlook and Notes clients and also allows users to extend Windows and Palm operating systems so that collaborators can drag and drop files onto icons that represent their coworkers systems.

      The companys instant-networking technology configures laptops to set up a local network that then sends out discovery packets, so that users can see which people and resources are on the network. Users can then share printers or Internet connections as well as update databases that are then replicated when they sync up.

      Next page: Its better than a server-in-a-box.

      Server in a Box

      Lamont Long, IT director at Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC, an accounting firm based in Indianapolis, Ind., said his firm turned to Colligo after seeking in vain a way to replicate Notes databases without having to lug an entire server-in-a-box to client sites.

      Before the firm started implementing the Notes plug-in in fall 2003, each team would lug a custom-made travel case containing a laptop that functioned as a server, an Ethernet hub, a printer, a scanner, cables and power strips. The firm had about 200 of these kits that teams would sign out when they hit the road.

      Besides the shoulder-aching problem of non-luggability, the firm also found that the servers would sometimes get lost, dropped, sat on or dumped on on-site.

      Tony Havranek, the firms manager of AWP (Automated Workpaper, an internal nickname for a group of highly customized and transportable Notes databases set up for sharing auditable work papers), said he was getting an average of three to five help calls on the remote servers. Since the firm finishing implementing Colligo in January, hes had only one call.

      “To a programmer, its amazing,” Havranek said. “To think you dont need a server to replicate with another user just seems … surprising.”

      The accountancy is now using Colligos plug-in for its 700 field accountants. The workgroup takes an Ethernet hub. Workgroup members plug in the Ethernet on-site and launch the Colligo client on their laptops. The client then determines whos on the local network and begins to replicate between connected systems using the features and functions typically found on the server.

      Crowe Chizek is looking to go wireless eventually but will hold off until the firm feels comfortable about the security Colligo can provide. Havranek said the firm is also hoping to adopt Colligo to partner with clients so that when accountants go to a client site, they can download their clients documents, including, for example, preliminary financial statements and accounting schedules.

      Whats particularly attractive about the current setup of AWP and Colligo, Long said, is that it helps to satisfy requirements about data retention and auditing stipulated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. “People can share the same database and add comments to a rich text data field, and theyd be available and visible and wed know who did it,” he said.

      Pricing for Colligo Enterprise Edition has not yet been determined, but the products precursor, Workgroup Edition, costs $70 per seat. That pricing allows for extension of the Windows operating system. For $110 per seat, Workgroup Edition ships with a Lotus Notes plug-in to allow for Notes database replication.

      The Workgroup Edition is geared toward small workgroups where configuration and management is done locally by the workgroup itself.

      The Enterprise Edition will be centrally managed by enterprise IT via the server-managed client architecture so that the IT department can provision the client with things such as security policies or extract from client systems audit trails from transactions that occurred on the road.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Database Center at http://database.eweek.com for the latest database news, views and analysis. Be sure to add our eWEEK.com database news feed to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo page: /zimages/4/19420.gif http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo2.gif

      Avatar
      Lisa Vaas
      Lisa Vaas is News Editor/Operations for eWEEK.com and also serves as editor of the Database topic center. Since 1995, she has also been a Webcast news show anchorperson and a reporter covering the IT industry. She has focused on customer relationship management technology, IT salaries and careers, effects of the H1-B visa on the technology workforce, wireless technology, security, and, most recently, databases and the technologies that touch upon them. Her articles have appeared in eWEEK's print edition, on eWEEK.com, and in the startup IT magazine PC Connection. Prior to becoming a journalist, Vaas experienced an array of eye-opening careers, including driving a cab in Boston, photographing cranky babies in shopping malls, selling cameras, typography and computer training. She stopped a hair short of finishing an M.A. in English at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She earned a B.S. in Communications from Emerson College. She runs two open-mic reading series in Boston and currently keeps bees in her home in Mashpee, Mass.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×