PR: Novell Announces Groupwise 7 Open Beta

Novell today announced open beta availability of its latest
version of its collaboration platform, Novell GroupWise 7.

GroupWise 7 features advances for end users such as integrated
e-mail and instant messaging, enhanced Outlook support and a
pre-bundled SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Unlike Microsoft
Exchange, GroupWise runs on multiple operating system platforms. As
a result, customers can reduce costs and increase productivity
using GroupWise 7 to govern and protect their mission-critical
collaboration functions.

“Novell’s commitment to supporting GroupWise through 2015 is a
strong signal to customers GroupWise can be counted on today and
into the foreseeable future,” said Mark Levitt, vice president for
Collaborative Computing at IDC. “GroupWise’s availability on Linux,
in addition to other platforms, offers customers a real choice for
firms looking beyond Windows.”

GroupWise 7 lets end users adapt the client to how they work in
order to optimize their productivity and efficiency. Enhancements
include integration between e-mail and instant messaging so users
can see in an e-mail whether the sender is currently online,
allowing them to move to IM to immediately resolve long e-mail
conversations. In addition, a new “home” view summarizes a user’s
most pertinent information at a glance, multiple calendars for a
single user make it easier to manage multiple projects, and a quick
navigation bar helps end users jump to the places they use most
through a simple, one-click interface.

“The promise of GroupWise is its combination of excellent
functionality with rock-solid reliability and security, a promise
it keeps every day,” said Corey Cush, senior director of networking
services for New York Health and Hospitals Corporation. “The new
features of GroupWise 7 and Novell’s long-term commitment to the
product make it a simple decision to keep and expand GroupWise as a
key part of our enterprise.”

GroupWise 7 will include Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server,
pre-bundled at no extra cost to customers. The inclusion of SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server allows GroupWise customers to begin
embracing the leading open source server platform. On the client
side, GroupWise supports Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Web browser and
mobile devices. GroupWise 7 also enables cradle-based
synchronization of PocketPC and Palm OS-based personal digital
assistants and has made it easier for developers to build and
integrate custom applications by allowing secure access to server
functions through Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), a standard
Web services-oriented interface.

Open beta versions of Novell GroupWise 7 are now available for
free download, and customers can pre-order GroupWise 7 beginning
July 7. Pricing will be announced at general product availability.
For more information about GroupWise or the competitive upgrade
promotion, or to obtain the beta software or pre-order GroupWise 7,
visit http://www.novell.com/groupwise.