Enterprise applications Toolkit

Open-Xchange adds cross-platform support

Published: 12 Apr 2005 17:10 BST

German software company Netline on Tuesday released the latest version of its open-source collaboration server Open-Xchange Server 5. Supported on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 at launch, it will be available on Red Hat Enterprise Server 4 in May and later on Debian.

A stable release of the open source version, known as Open-Xchange Server 0.8, will be available in two weeks time, according to Netline. This is the core of the commercial system but is not guaranteed or supported by the company. It is currently available on 14 operating systems, including Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD and a clutch of Linux distibutions, but not Windows. Commercial support may be offered later in the year for OS X and Solaris, according to Frank Hoberg, CEO of Netline.

The commercial version of the open source collaboration server offers a number of features that will not be available in the open source version, including "significantly enhanced" Microsoft Outlook and Palm connectivity as well as improved documentation and help facilities.

Improved Outlook compatibility is important as this allows companies to migrate from Microsoft Exchange to Open-Xchange, without needing to change their mail client.

Netline claims that since launching the beta version of Open-Xchange Server 5 in February, the product has been downloaded over 4,000 times per week. A Netline spokesman said that it expects the rate of downloads to increase now the final version is available.