ActiveSync in 11.4

[florian]

The beta is released and available. Results have been positive, so we will not do a further Beta, but go for GA. This is currently expected to hit the streets end-April/early-May, together with Scalix 11.4.4, which will be required as a base Scalix version to support ActiveSync.

would anyone else be interested?

I think that's an interesting idea, especially for Open Source and Community space.

maybe i could also release a SaaS Service, where users can sync their PIM data.

You will be limited in what you can charge for it. The Community Edition License Agreement allows for any kind of use, with the exception of a charge-for software-as-a-service. So you would have to essentially provide the Scalix mailbox for free in your service.

Florian.

[charon]

The idea was to decentralise everything

so the customer keeps his Scalix CE at his site and just enters his user credentials.

it think it may be possible to do everything via IMAP.

i would give it away free if someone's willing to help, but i'll first look into it deeply.

[florian]

Ok, that's fine and certainly ok. Given we have a commercial product on the way, we'll most certainly not contribute to push such solution, but we have no reason to stand in it's way either (Scalix is all about choice, honestly!). I think I can also commit that if threads start forming around such work on this forum, I'd at least watch them and see to dispatch to the right people for any questions that may arise during the work.

An alternative to IMAP could be the Scalix Messaging Services RESTful API.

Florian

[charon]

hm,

this would also be a nice idea to write a CRM connector at the same time.

[billb3]

hm,

this would also be a nice idea to write a CRM connector at the same time.

If you can do that and also write a z-push activesync connector, you will be my new best friend. Although, I'm not that optimistic considering how long it has taking Scalix to come out with the AS beta...and they are the manufacturer of the product...

[florian]

well, you know - the question is always ... how far do you wanna go. Talking about our experiences, getting basic email to work was pretty much a no-brainer and contacts were not too difficult either. The two things that took longer than anticipated were calendaring, especially because of the very complex (and different from outlook) encodings for some of the data (worst part as always: timezones and recurring appointments with exceptions) and scaleability for the actual "push" part; we had to modify the server to provide for certain types of notifications instead of the activesync module polling.

I am not sure how z-push is designed as I haven't looked at the architecture. Given they use IMAP for email and support generic IMAP servers, they will probably do some polling. This won't scale too well, but then, for a small community edition install it may be just good enough. Our solution must scale to situations where a single scalix server is providing service to 100s of users, located on more than one scalix server (like a separate frontend box!), so the goals of our project may be more complex.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to share any of the findings or code with the community. As said before, our implementation is based on a license that we have to use the official spec from Microsoft, and code implementing this cannot be disclosed outside our company.

Florian

[charon]

thats exactly the point florian.

small internal project servers for communities will handle this, but i would not use this solution on a 500 users box.

the goal is to the let the community keep sticky to this great product without abandoning the mobile part.
the community is, what keeps me here.

[florian]

BTW ... can't go into details just yet, but based on some feedback we received we're trying to create a new, slightly different package on the commercial side of things that may make it more attractive and actually feasible for those currently using community edition to be able to get their hands on our commercial active sync solution. I hope we'll be able to talk about this when ActiveSync goes GA, finally...

- Florian

[frankv]

Will the ActiveSync solution support NotifySync as well?

http://www.notifycorp.com/press/022409.html

From what I can understand, NotifySync is an ActiveSync client for the BlackBerry devices. As of now, it's compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server, the Kerio MailServer, the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, and the CommuniGate Pro Server.

Please say yes!

[florian]

Well, I can't speak for another vendor and their product, but from our perspective, this would be the goal; given our ActiveSync implementation is written against Microsoft's specs and assuming the same is true for Notify's product, it should be considered a bug if it doesn't.

Best,
Florian.

[rlshepard]

BTW ... can't go into details just yet, but based on some feedback we received we're trying to create a new, slightly different package on the commercial side of things that may make it more attractive and actually feasible for those currently using community edition to be able to get their hands on our commercial active sync solution. I hope we'll be able to talk about this when ActiveSync goes GA, finally...

- Florian

Any updates on when ActiveSync is gonna go GA?

Just getting itchy...

[florian]

the last statement in this thread still stands.

(see above!)

Florian.

[billb3]

Any updates on when ActiveSync is gonna go GA?

Just getting itchy...

From Florian above:

The beta is released and available. Results have been positive, so we will not do a further Beta, but go for GA. This is currently expected to hit the streets end-April/early-May, together with Scalix 11.4.4, which will be required as a base Scalix version to support ActiveSync.

[billb3]

Just curious if 11.4.4/AS is still on target for "end-April/early-May"? Have a lot of anxious users waiting...

[florian]

It'll very likely be the "May" part of it, but yes, with slight additional work items based on final QA testing, we're more or less on track now.

Florian.