collaboration

Lotus isn't the only Exchange Alternative

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:25:49 -0500

The article seems to imply that the only alternative to Notes is Exchange and vice versa. There are many alternatives of varying quality and functionality. Perhaps the best known viable alternative to both Exchange and Notes is the Gordano Messaging Suite.

More ideas on wiki adoption

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:13:37 -0400

A great resource for wiki adoption patterns it wikipatterns.com. In the interest of full disclosure, the site is managed by us folks at Atlassian, the makers of the Confluence top 10 ways collaboration, mobility amplify data leakage dangers.

Cisco recommends the following practices for preventing data loss:

* Know your data; Manage it well: Know how/where it's stored, accessed, used.

* Treat data as if it's your own - Protect it like it's your money: Educate employees how data protection equates to money earned and money lost.

* Institutionalize standards for safe conduct: Determine global policy objectives and create localized education tailored to a country's culture and threat landscape.

* Foster a culture of trust: "Employees need to feel comfortable reporting incidents so IT can resolve problems faster," Stewart said.

* Establish security awareness, education and training: Think globally, but localize and tailor programs for regions based on threat landscape and culture.

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'Who is Cisco and why trust them?' - customers wonder who is this new contender for their collaboration dollars

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:40:28 -0400

"Who is Cisco and why trust them?" That, according to Burton Group analyst Mike Gotta - as cited in the Wall Street Journal - is the question that corporate customers are asking as Cisco attempts to elbow into the collaboration software business that's dominated by Microsoft and is also now targeted by Google.

Cisco, which describes this market as being worth $34 billion, this week released a host of products for collaboration, including a new release of the company's unified communications software, a WebEx-enabled product for Web meetings with integrated presence and IM, and TelePresence customer service. It is also providing 'deeper integration' with desktops in IBM and Microsoft environments. However, Gotta estimates that it will take Cisco three to five years to make its mark in this area.

The WSJ cites Gotta as saying Cisco's challenge is to avoid developing products that others already sell, though its current relationship with enterprise customers would help it gain a foot in the door better than Google which has relatively no enterprise experience.

It sounds like Cisco is attempting to reinvent the wheel here but what are its chances against Microsoft's wide customer base and Google's knack of creating customer buzz for its applications?

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Even Cisco experiences resistance to new technologies from some workers

Cisco Subnet — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:01:40 -0400

You'd think that it would be pretty easy to roll out new technology at high-tech firms but they're like the rest of us when it comes to introducing new ways of working - there can be some resistance from some corners. In an interview with ITBusinessEdge, Patrick Tam, Cisco senior manager, operations describes how the company introduced an internal collaboration platform called the Collaboratory based on 18 separate Web 2.0 technologies. It's used by 70 teams across the company and features wikis, blogs, RSS feeds and several types of discussion and group collaboration facilities.

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Just how is Cisco competing with Microsoft, Google?

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:09:56 -0400

Cisco CEO John Chambers never misses an opportunity to talk "collaboration" but collaboration is much more than networking - it's a lot to do with collaboration software. Om Malik, writing in GigaOm points out that with enterprises giving Google's Google Apps the thumbs-up and Microsoft pushing the collaboration elements of SharePoint, Cisco needs to think like a software company if it wants to take some of the collaboration mindshare.

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12 cool cross-platform tools for Windows, Macs and Linux

Ron Barrett — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:22:49 -0400

Today's IT department is faced with the constant question of which platform wins the battle for the corporate network's heart and mind. I won't get into the debate of which platform will reign supreme in the next 5 - 10 years. Quite frankly I do not even want to think that far down the line. (But, can you guess my vote, given the name of this blog, A Better Windows World?) But no matter what your personal preference, the reality is that most corporate networks are a heterogeneous mix of two or more operating systems, with servers and with desktops. So the question really becomes, "What tools can we use to bridge the gap between Windows and the rest of your network?"

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Google, Microsoft square off on campus

Google Subnet — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:33:48 -0400

At the recent Campus Technology 08 conference in Boston, both Google and Microsoft made a strong pitch for the education market. Both vendors offer free hosted e-mail and collaboration tools for K-12 and college students and faculty. Schools can use the tools while still preserving their familiar .edu domain names. Microsoft underscored its upcoming LiveMesh technologies as part of its new Live@edu suite, while Google emphasized its Google Apps technologies, including Gmail, Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets.

Both vendors hope to hook student users early with free services, and then parlay that usage into paying corporate accounts as those students graduate into the corporate workforce. To learn more about both programs, see Network World's write-up. To get additional insight into the vendors' strategies, watch the video from the show.

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The End of the Road Warrior?

jimandneil_simplified — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:22:20 -0400

For several years the role of the corporate "Road Warrior" has been glorified as the invincible employee, somehow getting their jobs accomplished despite incredible odds to the contrary. The road warrior faced an endless onslaught of connectivity challenges, ever waging the constant battle to stay connected. Airlines like to celebrate the role, often handing out annual rewards for the truest warrior, and most traveled roadie.

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Padmasree Warrior cries: Innovation through collaboration!

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:34:57 -0400

The next wave of IT innovation must meet the demands of a mobile, urban planet, said Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior at her CiscoLive! keynote address in Orlando this week. And this demographic will collaborate globally to innovate, which means IT vendors must innovate so they can collaborate, Warrior said. IT up to now has been a catalyst for globalization; but it is now a major influencer of innovation, she said.

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Cisco's growth path

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:53:42 -0400

Collaboration will drive US productivity growth towards 5% per year, from current 1% to 2% levels, Cisco CEO John Chambers told the 11,000 attendees at the Cisco Live! customer conference in Orlando this week.

Cisco's own internal targets are much more aggressive, however: the company is aiming for 10% productivity growth per year for the next decade. Even that "might be too conservative," Chambers said.

This will help Cisco maintain its #1 or #2 standing in all of its key markets, Chambers says, with the goal of attaining at least 40% share in those markets. "At 20% or less, your staying power is very limited," he told the Cisco Live! crowd.

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Cisco readies new products

Cisco Subnet — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:53:49 -0400

Cisco has a couple of new products in the pipeline for the next year. The company plans to unveil a version of its Telepresence virtual conferencing capability for the home. This will emerge over the next 12 months, CEO John Chambers said during his keynote address at the Cisco Live! customer conference in Orlando this morning.

Telepresence begand as a virtual conference room costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cisco has since scaled the product up and down, with versions designed to handle larger conferences and others for individual offices.

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SharePoint and StartPoint, what a combination!!!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:58:06 -0400

If you are managinig DWG or DN with SharePoint site then you owe to yourself to take a look at StartPoint offered by Bentley Systems...

web-based options

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:58:45 -0400

Today there are more and more companies that offer messaging, forums, communication, collaboration and project management applications as a service. It might be a quick and cost-effective solution. For example, we use Wrike.com for project management. It's not a messaging system of course, but there are options in this sphere too.

Windows Meeting Space: Collaboration on the cheap!

Ron Barrett — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:21:10 -0400

When I began writing the Admin Guide to Office 2007 Servers with Peter, I was surprised at the direction Microsoft was taking. I am speaking about the different methods of collaboration that were being offered.

Groove Server allows users to create collaborative work spaces that maintain security. These work spaces work regardless of whether users are in your domain or even in the same time zone.

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Collaborate or leave, says Cisco to its leadership

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:32:52 -0400

Many people have wondered what the heck Cisco is doing owning WebEx. The fit between the two companies is less than obvious. John Chambers shed some light on that and the bigger picture of Cisco's interest in collaboration during a keynote address at Forrester Research's IT Forum in Las Vegas. He said Cisco's entire future hangs on its success with collaboration, which is why the company is focused on TelePresence and why it grabbed WebEx.

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Hidden Gem

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:31:40 -0400

Microsoft still don't really shout about Windows SharePoint Services ver 3.0 that does probably 85% of the Information Management needs that companies have. A number of companies who think they are really using full MOSS 2007 are actually only using the features of WSS. To have a look at some of the range of SharePoint Services sites that can be produced go to http://www.office-talk.com/pages/officetalk_p1.html and click 'Click 'N' Try'. You will then get the chance to access a selection of working sites built solely on WSS 3.0.

Twitter spam?

Adam Gaffin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:48:06 -0400

Maybe it's just me and my great yawning unappreciation for Twitterdom, but it seems like over the past week, I've gotten a bunch of "followers" who really just seem to be spammers, who have no real interest in what I actually post.

Rivalmap - Web 2.0 competitive analysis and collaboration

Deanwhit — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:57:38 -0400

Web 2.0 and social media technology solutions began with wide appeal and are rapidly evolving to server specific business functions. One critical business problem is data overload. A recently released Workplace Productivity Survey, commissioned by LexisNexis notes "...seven out of 10 office workers in the United States feel overwhelmed by information in the workplace, and more than two in five say they are headed for a data 'breaking point'.”

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Bonsai

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:24:04 -0400

Agreed. Bonsai and Teaming+Conferencing are an excellent suite that can compete with anything out there. It's too bad it will be Q4 08 before we'll see the gold code - but at least we'll know it will work once released.