NewsGator Slips RSS Behind the Firewall

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RSS aggregator NewsGator Technologies Inc. on Thursday released NewsGator Enterprise Server, a version of its public NewsGator Online Services thats geared to operate within a business environment.

NewsGator has a growing suite of software and services for subscribing to and reading RSS feeds, and it is the purveyor of the podcast receiver FeedStation. Announced in June, FeedStation lets users download podcasts and vlogs (video blogs) automatically to a portable device.

NewsGators online services allow users to read their news in Outlook, on the Web, on their mobile phones or via the recently acquired FeedDemon reader, among other devices.

The Enterprise Server, formerly code-named Dino, brings this existing RSS engine to the enterprise with enterprise-level security, manageability and deployment.

It has an option of integrating with Microsoft Corp.s Exchange and Active Directory, which should make deployment easier for enterprise IT departments. In addition, the optional integration will serve up an interface thats familiar to business users.

It also means that users will be able to read RSS feeds in Outlook, Outlook Web Access, Pocket Outlook, Entourage and other Exchange-integrated applications, with no need to install additional desktop client software.

/zimages/4/28571.gifConsolidation among RSS aggregation is rife as major competitors such as Yahoo and Microsofts MSN division enter the fray. Click here to read more.

Meanwhile, the optional integration with Active Directory brings the capability of single sign-on and group administration and management.

Getting this into the hands of enterprise users means theyll be able to subscribe to secure internal RSS feeds from business or other systems, as well as any external feeds.

NewsGators enterprise version syncs across interfaces that include desktop, mobile and Internet. It also can be personalized for workgroup collaboration, opportunity tracking, business and competitive intelligence, and project management.

/zimages/4/28571.gifMicrosoft has posted the first installment of a blog to advise developers on creating Web pages and RSS feeds that work correctly with IE 7 and Windows Vista. Click here to read more.

Personalized feeds can be created that monitor keywords and URLs for both internal and external communication. To stay afloat in that ocean of incoming intelligence, NewsGator provides organizational capabilities with folders and subfolders.

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