Open-source collaboration software vendor Open-Xchange has integrated VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and social networking sites in the latest version of its e-mail server and client.
Open-Xchange version 6.16 has been integrated with VoipNow Professional from 4PSA to create bundled versions of the two products for on-premise installations and hosted solutions. Users can start a call from the address book and receive faxes and voice mails, which are tagged so they can be easily separated from other messages, in Open-Xchange e-mail in-box. Future upgrade plans include instant message integration and letting users see if their contacts are available.
Users will also be able to view and reply to Twitter and Facebook messages and view RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds in the Open-Xchange client. The social networking integration is still under development, but the features Open-Xchange have added are stable so the company is providing users with a preview of what’s to come, according to CEO Rafael Laguna. The company is still working on bringing together e-mail and the social messaging services in virtual folders, which could include separate private and work folders, Laguna said.
For the integration to work, companies also need a client that uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to communicate — for example, a softphone or a desktop phone — and an SIP-based trunk to connect to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).
Besides integration with VoIP social networking sites, version 6.16 of Open-Xchange can subscribe to appointments from Google Calender. Open-Xchange has also implemented iMIP (iCalendar Message-Based Interoperability Protocol), which is an extension to iCalendar that lets users send meeting invitations to external contacts, according to Laguna.
During the first year, Open-Xchange Server Edition costs US $1,312.50 for 25 named users and a one-year maintenance subscription. Additional users are $52.50 each. Renewing the maintenance subscription for another year costs $328 for 25 named users and $13 per additional user, according to Open-Xchange’s price list. The pricing applies worldwide and the software is available globally.
The company didn’t provide any pricing for the VoIP integration.