Review: Gordano Messaging Suite 11

Gordano Messaging Suite 11 is most directly comparable—in its architecture and features—to CommuniGate Pro in that it includes a presence engine and shared calendar support beyond Outlook.

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Gordano Messaging Suite 11 is most directly comparable—in its architecture and features—to CommuniGate Pro in that it includes a presence engine and shared calendar support beyond Outlook.

/zimages/1/28571.gifRead morehereabout flexible messaging and collaboration options.

Gordano Messaging Suite 11 is priced at $47 per user for 1,000 users, making it a little more expensive than Bynari or CommuniGate Pro. However, the full suite unites e-mail, group calendaring, anti-virus, anti-spam, message archiving, Web mail and IM capabilities in a single server.

Gordano has done an excellent job of putting together a comprehensive suite with everything working well from both user and administrator perspectives. We would like a more open system, however, where third-party products play a bigger role in providing some of the functionality, such as anti-spam or anti-virus protection.

We should note, however, that Gordanos anti-virus product comes from OEM partner Authentium Inc., so the product can integrate with third-party applications.

The product can also be bought on a component level, which starts with basic POP and IMAP servers, so companies dont need to buy the IM capability, for example, if they dont need it.

The IM server provides presence information within Outlook and includes a Web-based IM client. Unlike CommuniGate Pro, the product doesnt support SIP.

Groupware functionality is controlled by Gordano Collaboration Server. We liked that the product supports Internet free/busy look-up so that users can also access their calendars from iCal or Mozilla Calendar. As with CommuniGate Pro, however, this requires a few extra steps: Administrators must configure the server to publish free/busy information and give users server information for the relevant clients.

We found the product easy to manage, given its broad functionality. In addition, the Web-based administration console is extensible, through the use of Macromedia Inc.s Cold Fusion tags and ASP.net, so administrators who want to automate tasks have a way to do so.

The feature that really sets the Gordano server apart is its three Web mail interface options. At log-in, users can pick the interface they want to use, with each interface providing an option to adapt to Internet connectivity and client capabilities.

The rich Web mail client is Java-based and provides users with customizable views and icon-based navigation. If a user doesnt have a Java-enabled browser or is on a slow connection, Gordano will show a more text-oriented view of message and calendar data. Gordano also has an interface designed for mobile devices that provides basic e-mail browsing and message composition.

Next page: Evaluation Shortlist: Related Products.

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Evaluation Shortlist

Bynaris Insight Server 4.2 Offers well-integrated open-source tools but lacks an automated deployment feature (www.bynari.com)
CommuniGate Systems CommuniGate Pro Real-Time Collaboration 4.3 Broadly extensible, with a wide range of groupware features (www.communigate.com)
Gordanos Gordano Messaging Suite 11 Provides a well-integrated suite of messaging tools but is not as extensible as its competitors (www.gordano.com)
IBMs IBM Lotus Domino 6.5 Enterprise groupware with database-driven applications (www.ibm.com)
Microsofts Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Defines groupware in the Outlook world and allows forms-based applications in Outlook (www.microsoft.com)
Scalixs Scalix Server 9.2.1 Brings good Exchange and Outlook feature fidelity to Linux and Outlook users, with an excellent Web mail interface (www.scalix.com)

Technical Analyst Michael Caton can be reached at michael_caton@ziffdavis.com.

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