CommuniGate Updates its Groupware

CommuniGate Systems last week announced that it is delivering a new release of its flagship groupware system, CommuniGate Pro.

The new release is priced at US$899 for 25 users (with one year of support included); a free version is also available that works for five users or fewer.

CommuniGate Pro is available for enterprise environments as well as network carriers and ISPs. It provides a unified communication platform for users to manage e-mail, calendaring, Voice over IP (VoIP) and personal information management. The software works with Mac OS X, Windows and Linux clients (it's also hosted on the Mac).

CommuniGate Pro supports a wide variety of corporate and open standards for communication, including, IMAP, MAPI and POP for e-mail messaging, Windows Messenger, Trillian and Pandion for instant messaging and various VoIP systems.

Apple recently announced its enterprise strategy for the iPhone. In June, Apple will release a major software update for the device, dubbed "iPhone 2.0," which will enable the iPhone to more easily integrate into corporate environments by supporting Microsoft ActiveSync technology. ActiveSync is used by Microsoft Exchange and Exchange-compatible servers to "push" e-mail content out to mobile devices, using "AirSync" Over the Air (OTA) technology.

CommuniGate Systems has announced that CommuniGate Pro is also ready to support AirSync, so when the iPhone gets its software upgrade, companies will be able to push e-mail to it using CommuniGate Pro. This will let iPhone users get OTA sync of calendars, contacts, e-mail and tasks without having to use a Microsoft Exchange server.

CommuniGate Pro's client-side use has also improved performance and gained a lighter memory footprint thanks to the developer's use of Adobe Flex 3. CommuniGate Pro features a "Pronto" user interface that relies on Adobe Flash and AIR (Adobe Interactive Runtime) technology.

CalDAV -- the same calendar sharing technology used by Leopard Server's iCal Server software -- is also supported, so Mac users who have migrated to Leopard can share calendars with other CommuniGate Pro users.