Zimbra 7.2 has arrived, with significant capabilities and enhancements to make
collaboration easier and more secure for both users and administrators.

To begin with, your emails are protected with S/MIME encryption and signing,
both of which are now native to the Zimbra Web Client and work with Outlook
using the Zimbra Connector for Outlook. Which is to say, messages can be read
only by the intended recipient, with the sender’s identity assured.
Previously, just the communication itself could be secured via SSL. With
S/MIME, the data inside is encrypted as well, adding a second layer of
protection.  

Government users of Zimbra will be happy to learn that 7.2 also implements
two-way SSL authentication with Smartcards and Common Access Cards (CAC) issued
by the Department of Defense. 

7.2 has good news for administrators too: the Zimbra Blackberry Enterprise
Server Connector now supports over 750 users per server—3 times more than
previously. How’s that for simplifying deployment and management!

Outlook users will appreciate the new Zimbra Connector for Outlook, which lets
you automatically mount shares accepted in the Zimbra Web Client. And when
scheduling meetings, you can propose new times—and book resources like rooms
and equipment—in your calendar invites. 

For more details on these and other Release 7.2 enhancements, check out these
links:

Release Notes
http://files.zimbra.com/website/docs/7.2/Zimbra_NE_Release_Notes_7.2.0.pdf

Downloads
http://www.zimbra.com/products/download_network.html

Zimbra Collaboration Server 5 Technical Guidance, including phone support and support portal/self-help resources, will end of life on March 31, 2012. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to Zimbra Collaboration Server 7 to enjoy the benefits of the new features and support options. More Info >>>

Zimbra will offer phased support from the general availability of a new Major Release. Please keep current with product updates to ensure no interruptions in your support services. (Visit the Downloads page for all product updates.)

• General Support will be provided for three years from general availability of a Major Release. Support includes bug and security fixes and technical support services.

• Technical Guidance will be provided for an additional one year following General Support. Primary assistance is available through the self help pages. Customers can also open a support request online to receive operational/configuration support and recommended workarounds for low-severity issues on supported configurations only. (Telephone support is not provided.) There will be no new security patches or bug fixes. The phase is intended for usage by customers operating in stable environments with systems that are operating under reasonably stable loads.

Register this Wednesday, February 29th for Top 10 Reasons to Virtualize Zimbra on vSphere – Live Webinar

<< Register Here >>

Your IT needs are growing and evolving and virtualization is a key to your growth. There are significant benefits of placing business critical applications such as email and collaboration in a virtualized environment. Join our LIVE webinar and hear the Top Ten reasons to virtualize VMware Zimbra on vSphere.

Some of the topics covered include:

• The challenges of business continuity and disaster recovery with email platforms
• How virtualization addresses and simplifies business continuity and disaster recovery
• How Zimbra on vSphere simplifies BC/DR implementation & testing
• Overview of our tests and results
• Q&A Session with Zimbra Product Team

Your IT needs are growing and evolving and virtualization is a key to your growth. There are significant benefits of placing business critical applications such as email and collaboration in a virtualized environment.

Don’t forget to register for this month’s webinars:

Thursday, February 23rd for Altimeter Group founder and author Charlene Li, and Socialcast founder Tim Young for a webinar to discuss the new Altimeter Group report “Making the Case for Enterprise Social Networks.” Whether you’re looking for information on where to get started or already have an enterprise social network implemented, find out how to make the most of the biggest shift in communications and IT platforms since email.

<< Register Here >>

Wednesday, February 29th for Top 10 Reasons to Virtualize Zimbra on vSphere discussing how virtualization is the key to simplify business continuity and disaster recovery. Hear how we have tested and implemented our findings.

<< Register Here >>

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at this year’s EDUCAUSE 2011 Conference in Philadelphia!  We have a lot to share with you this year as we continue in our mission to deliver technologies and infrastructure that enhance the way people work in the post-PC era.

We’re especially excited to show you a sneak peek of what is coming in ZCS 8.0 and an early preview of our new file sharing application, Project Octopus.  And, we’d like to invite you to our VMware Cocktail Reception on Tuesday evening.  This year we’ll be in historic downtown Philadelphia at Del Frisco’s.  Also, please stop by and see us in booth #1439.

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VMware Zimbra Roadmap Presentation on Tuesday, 10/18 at 2:30 PM

Please join us for the Zimbra Roadmap Presentation on Tuesday, October 18^th at 2:30 PM.  During this Roadmap presentation, you will learn more about the exciting new features being developed for our biggest release ever, ZCS 8.0! You’ll get a sneak peek at some of the new features including priority inbox, social mail, calendars with activity streams and new self-service administration tools. You will also get an early preview of our new secure, cloud-based file sharing application, Project Octopus, designed to transform the way people collaborate.

Space is limited, please RSVP by Friday, October 14th to reserve your seat.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
2:30-4 PM

Location:
Maggiano’s Little Italy
Napoli Room
1201 Filbert Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-567-2020

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VMware Cocktail Reception on Tuesday, October 18 at 6:30 PM

You are cordially invited to the VMware Cocktail Reception on Tuesday, October 18th in Philadelphia, PA.  This year, we have selected a great spot in the heart of the Center City Philadelphia at Del Frisco’s in the historical First Pennsylvania Bank Building. We look forward to spending an evening with great friends over cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres!

Space is limited so please RSVP by Friday, October 14th.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, October 18
6:30-8:00 PM

Location:
Del Frisco’s
1426 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-246-0533

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Visit VMware Zimbra Booth #1439

We’ll be showcasing ZCS and Project Octopus, along with demos of the other VMware products like View, Fusion, vSphere and SlideRocket.

We thank you for your continued support and feedback and we look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!

We’re pleased today Proofpoint, an industry leader in security and compliance solutions for enterprise messaging, announced they’ve integrated their Enterprise Protection™ and Enterprise Privacy™ solutions with VMware Zimbra Collaboration Server v7 .  This integration offers Zimbra customers access to advanced anti-spam, regulatory compliance, email encryption and data loss prevention capabilities.
Proofpoint worked with the Zimbra team to custom-engineer the integration of its solutions to provide users with maximum protection.  Features include:

• An virtual appliance with machine learning technology that delivers 99.8%+ anti-spam effectiveness against all types of spam and phishing attacks
• Direct integration within the Zimbra UI- users may mark messages “spam” or “not spam” and the feedback provides additional tuning to the Proofpoint service in real-time
• Securely send encrypted messages within Zimbra through a Proofpoint Zimlet extension (available in Zimbra 7.1.3)
• Administrators may enable robust outbound filtering in Zimbra on messages for data loss prevention and privacy compliance

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Special Introductory Offers

As part of the launch, Proofpoint is offering qualified Zimbra Network Edition customers a free one-year subscription to its Proofpoint Enterprise Protection virtual appliance.

The Proofpoint team is also offering new Zimbra customers a free 60-day trial to its Enterprise Privacy virtual appliance.

Visit www.proofpoint.com/zimbra to learn more.

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The Zimbra team is excited to add Proofpoint to our growing and open ecosystem; it’s another example of how Zimbra partners and customers can easily integrate with the Zimbra Collaboration Server via our open APIs and Zimlet framework.  Learn more by checking out the Zimbra Gallery and Community over over 45,000 members.

Stay tuned in future months as we make available other integrated offerings in such areas as security, mobility, storage, unified communications, and cloud management of Zimbra.

As we continue in our mission to develop technologies and infrastructure that improve the way people work in this post-PC era, we are previewing at VMworld Las Vegas a new file sharing app – Project Octopus – that advances our vision for combining end-user freedom with IT control.

Project Octopus will enable users to access files from any device and share them with people both inside (other colleagues) and outside (vendors, customers, partners) their companies in a completely safe and secure way.  Additionally, IT leaders will have control to apply access and security policies and intelligently manage data that is old or out of date.

In our research, we found that 80 percent of files in a collaboration system are not accessed after more than two years. Octopus will automatically identify these orphaned files, warn their owners, and if it never hears back, it expires those files and deletes them.

Project Octopus promises to be super easy to deploy; it plugs in to your existing infrastructure and will come with a wide range of extensibility options that can integrate with your existing business applications. Also Octopus will work with other products within the VMware End-user Computing portfolio including VMware Zimbra, VMware View, VMware Horizon and Project AppBlast.

It really addresses the challenges that IT has today…users need a way to easily and quickly access their files on their tablets, smart phones, laptops and home desktops and do this in a way that’s safe and secure.

If you are interested in participating in the upcoming beta of Project Octopus, go to vmwareoctopus.com and enter your email address.  Keep checking back on the End-User Computing blog for updates.

August 29-September 1 at The Venetian in Las Vegas
October 18-20, Bella Center, Copenhagen

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We are just three weeks away from VMworld 2011 and we are looking forward to showcasing Zimbra products, including a sneak peek of ZCS 8 and some new products we are working on!

VMworld 2011 is a great way to learn about the latest technology innovations with more than 175 breakout sessions and labs-featuring topics that will cover everything from virtualizing business critical applications to integrating social collaboration tools that enhance productivity.  Plus, VMworld offers additional learning opportunities, such as the Knowledge Experts Program, numerous networking events, and the Solutions Exchange, featuring over 250 companies.

Whether you’re new to VMworld or have attended before, VMworld 2011 is a great way to learn about the latest technology innovations and network with your peers and industry experts.  And, you won’t want to miss this year’s party with the band, The Killers!

Below is a list of the Zimbra activities that we have planned. If you have not already registered and you would like to attend this year’s event, click on the link below to get to the registration page.  We hope to see you at VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas!

Speaking & Group Sessions

1. VMware Zimbra: Next Generation Collaboration for Your Cloud: John Robb & Sam Khavari
2. Plan, Build and Deliver a VMware Zimbra Cloud Application Business: Jing To & Azdio Ballesteros
3. VMware Zimbra: Better Than Exchange: Jon Dybik
4. Zimbra the New SMB Game Changer: Paul Murphy
5. Zimbra Group Discussion: John Robb

Education & Hands-on Lab

1. Exploring your Core Email and Collaboration Services Migration Options: Anup Patwardhan & Azdio Ballesteros

VMware Booth

• Product Demos in the VMware Booth Genius Bar
• Theater presentations
• Meet the team!

To register for VMworld click here!

Exciting news! We’ve just release VMware Zimbra Collaboration Server 7.1 and I thought I’d take a few minutes to explain the details behind the release.

Some may have been expecting a typical maintenance release (i.e. 7.0.2), and 7.1 is primarily comprised of the bug fixes and enhancements you would expect in any maintenance release from Zimbra. So why the special 7.1 version? We’ve done some important plumbing to set the stage for a few new features coming later in the year as well as added internationalization enhancements to improve localization for Japanese customers.

What are these new future features you ask? Namely, S/MIME encryption and support for smartcard authentication. I know many in the community have noticed the activity in Bugzilla around S/MIME, so we’ve reved the minor version to indicate a sign of good things to come. The release however does not include any changes in behavior or big ticket features that you need to spend weeks figuring out in a lab. So all you 6.0.x and 7.0.1 customers, 7.1 is your next install.

Here are a few important links to more information and the actual bits themselves.