With exchange 2007 due out near the end of the year, Ive been expecting a flurry of activity from e-mail and calendar server vendors trying to steal some of Microsofts thunder. Scalix is the first, with buzz about the upcoming release of its namesake e-mail server.
Im testing a preview release of Scalix 11 Community Server Edition, the first version to comprise all the components of the platform. These include the Web-based Administration Console, a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook and Web Access Mobile for Web-enabled wireless devices.
With Scalix 11, there is a common code base between Community Server Edition and Scalixs commercial products—Scalix Enterprise Edition and Scalix Small Business Edition.
In July, Scalix officials announced that a licensing agreement had been struck with Hewlett-Packard to grant access to the source code of Scalix, including the portions of Scalix software that come from the now-defunct HP OpenMail.
By making the source code available, the Scalix platform should be more appealing from a third-party software integration standpoint. For example, Scalix 11 includes a new messaging API that will allow developers to integrate Scalix with CRM systems for capturing e-mail conversations in a customer record. CRM systems such as Sage Softwares SalesLogix already do this with Microsoft Exchange.
My full review of the Scalix 11 Community Server Edition preview is scheduled to appear in a forthcoming issue and at eweek.com.
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