Collaboration between colleagues often means sending files through e-mail and hoping they don't get lost in the ever-growing wasteland of the in-box. To solve this, Oracle offers its Oracle Collaboration Suite, a comprehensive set of tools to help companies manage information across whatever boundaries they might have.

Tools such as Web conferencing, e-mail, calendaring, file storage  and content searching are provided in an environment that lets data get stored, shared and ultimately found by those who need it.

We recently tested (see How we did it ) the OCS and found it to be a solid performer, offering a number of good tools that let workers share information and find data within a company. Its variety of access methods (through the Web or with a desktop client or even PDA or cell phone) also impressed us.

Building the framework

The OCS is built on the Oracle Database and the Oracle Application Server products. OCS can be accessed through a customizable Web portal, using applets to access the calendar, e-mail and other functions. Alternatively, there are stand-alone applications available to access the calendar, and various e-mail clients can connect using POP or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP ).

Rather than install OCS ourselves, we used Oracle's Hosted Pilot program. This program lets potential OCS customers take OCS for a "test drive" (see story ). Using the Hosted Pilot, we accessed all parts of the OCS just as if it were installed locally in our lab.

The OCS administration is very detailed. After the installation, there was a small group of administrator accounts with complete control over each applet. But additional administrators can be created within each applet. This gives the ability to grant one user the rights to provision calendar accounts, but maybe a different user to provision e-mail privileges. Or, perhaps you need different administrators for each department. OCS gives you the flexibility to assign rights in whatever ways your business requires.

The "gotcha" was in switching between different users. OCS relies on Web browser cookies to keep track of who is signed on. It is a best practice to completely close the browser, thus clearing your session cookies, before trying to switch users. This only will be an issue if you find yourself switching between privileged and unprivileged accounts, or if there is a machine that is shared among users.

Web conferencing

The first tool that one thinks of when you use the word collaboration is Web conference. OCS is no exception, offering Web conferencing with the standard array of functions such as application sharing, whiteboarding and chat.

A small console in the form of an executable is downloaded when a new user enters a conference. From there, the conference presenter can share application windows or their entire desktop. The presenter can maintain control of the whiteboard, or it can be shared with others. Public and private chat sessions also can be launched, and it has the ability to conduct polls. The presenter can coordinate the viewing of a Web page or a document that was loaded into the conference beforehand.

The Web conference feature supports streaming audio from a telephone call-in bridge. Presenters and any participants who want to talk in the conference can dial into the bridge; participants who just want to listen can do so via the streaming version from their Web browsers. This is the only option available for audio in the current version, but plans are in the works to add VoIP or audio streaming in a future version, the company says.

Overall, the Web conferencing in OCS is as good as any other product with which we've worked. The console application doesn't take up much room on the desktop, and it can be minimized to free more viewing area. It includes a nice "network connection" meter, which gauges your response times and how smooth the presentation should be. The interface is clean and easy to use.