Share More, Send Less with Zimbra 7

At VMware we are singularly focused on helping our customers transform their IT environments into a cloud that can deliver IT as a Service.  A lot has changed in the IT market over the last few years with the proliferation of tablets, iOS devices, browser based applications and pay as you go services.  VMware is committed to providing IT organizations the tools needed to deliver IAAS, PAAS and SAAS services to their users.

As part of this commitment, VMware increased its investment in Zimbra during 2010 in order to accelerate the release of Zimbra 7 – the newest version of our collaboration platform.  Zimbra provides users with a collaboration cloud for accessing personal and shared information wherever you are while providing IT the controls to back up and secure the information.

The first thing you might notice about this announcement is that we are releasing all three of our core products – VMware Zimbra Collaboration Server (formally Zimbra Collaboration Suite), along with beta versions of VMware Zimbra Collaboration Appliance (ZCA) and VMware Zimbra Desktop (ZD).  Going forward, we are committed to releasing future offerings of VMware Zimbra concurrently as a single platform.

We believe that this commitment to a single platform provides huge benefits to both VMware Zimbra end-users and administrators.

• For our users, this means that if you are online or offline, on a BlackBerry, iPhone or laptop, it won’t matter. You will always have a consistent experience with Zimbra.  Users will have access to their cloud of information wherever they go.

• For IT Administrators, you get more deployment options and control. As always, you have the choice to deploy in a private cloud or in the public cloud. Zimbra 7 is controlled using a simple web based administrative console that can be installed in less than 10 minutes.

Zimbra 7 has 230 new enterprise-grade features, including data sharing, expanded calendaring and search functionality, and even better management tools. Our goal with Zimbra is to increase end user productivity, open the platform and improve manageability.

Some of the new capabilities the team developed for VMware Zimbra 7 include:

Share more, send less:

• File Sharing – VMware Zimbra 7 includes access to Zimbra’s Briefcase functionality, which allows users to easily share or store files in the cloud.  Zimbra 7 enables lightweight document management with added control directly from within Zimbra. You can upload and access multiple versions of a Briefcase file or document, and new “check-in” and “check-out” controls further simplify document management and collaboration.

Simplified management:

• End-user Self Service – Zimbra has long been committed to easier system administration, and Zimbra 7 is no exception. In addition to features such as distribution list management controls and simpler functions for load balancing, system automatic recovery, and zero downtime hardware maintenance, Zimbra 7 also provides new options to allow users to serve themselves rather than calling IT. For instance, a user can restore his own deleted items even after he has emptied his trash. Zimbra 7 is also our most robust delivery ever, with over 2000 bugs fixed and performance and scalability improvements as well.

Manage your inbox:

• Increased productivity – Our team also spent a lot of time rethinking the mailbox and calendaring. Calendaring updates enable new workflows to coordinate appointments and schedule meetings among multiple people. The Scheduling Wizard helps users suggest times, rooms, and resources to all attendees simultaneously – taking location and time zone into account – making it easier to coordinate schedules with a large number of users.

For a full list of new features check out our announcement.

As always, you can download Zimbra Collaboration Server 7 (formerly Zimbra Collaboration Suite) along with beta versions of VMware Zimbra Desktop 7 and VMware Zimbra Appliance 7 at http://www.zimbra.com/downloads.