Cemaphore links Gmail and Outlook, previews beta at Microsoft TechEd
MailShadowG plays backup, convenience role
By
John Fontana
,
Network World
, 06/11/2008
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Cemaphore Systems Tuesday said it would ship this month the next beta for its tool that synchronizes Outlook data with Gmail and lets users straddle a locally deployed Microsoft Exchange Server and Google’s online messaging service.
The company made the announcement at Microsoft’s annual TechEd conference.
MailShadow for Google Apps, known as MailShadowG, is an add-on for Microsoft’s Outlook client. With the tool, users can synchronize
their e-mail, contacts and calendars between Outlook and Gmail.
The company, a Microsoft partner, is not touting MailShadowG as a way for users to replace their Exchange Server back-end
infrastructure. MailShadowG is positioned more in a back-up and convenience role.
In fact, company officials admit that the synchronization is not a 1-to-1 match for everything, such as marking calendar entries
as “recurring.” Cemaphore, however, says the synchronization is a match 95% of the time.
MailShadowG synchronizes content bi-directionally and in real time. Users will retain access to the data through the traditional
Gmail Web-based interface.
Cemaphore will begin its Beta 2 program at the end of June and is opening it up to anyone. Beta 1, which launched in May to
strong reviews, was a private beta. General release of the software will come before the end of September, according to the
vendor.
Once available, beta participants can purchase the software for $29.95 per seat for the first year. The annual license price
is regularly $49.95.
The company says once MailShadowG is complete it will develop similar software for other e-mail platforms.
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