German open source developer Open-Xchange is promising a a lower cost alternative to Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange and Sharepoint for educational institutions, public administrations and small- and medium-size businesses.
Open-Xchange Server Edition for Univention Corporate Server (OX SE for UCS) is designed to be easy to integrate into existing IT infrastructure. User rights/permissions and groups can be easily and centrally managed. In addition, printers, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux clients can be centrally administered with Web-based management tools.
"We're providing a turnkey solution as an alternative to Microsoft Exchange in a maintained open source server infrastructure - with the ability to keep technologies like Microsoft Active Directory at the same time," said RafaelLaguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. "We're delivering function that goes beyond the Microsoft Server and Microsoft Exchange stacks for lower cost."
"Open-Xchange is proven and successful with large hosting customers," said Peter H. Ganten, founder and CEO of Univention GmbH. "This represents another step in our vision to offer more organizations the ideal, open and cost-effective alternative to widespread proprietary systems."
Open-Xchange groupware provides e-mail, calendar, contact, document and task management in an integrated application. All data is presented clearly and can be edited quickly using the AJAX-based web interface. Alternatively, Microsoft Outlook on Windows and the applications Mail, Address Book andiCal on Mac OS X can be used, as well.
OXSE for UCS includes capabilities for centralised management of servers, workstations, desktops and services, including systems and software monitoring and software distribution --even in different locations. It enables theLDAP directory and Microsoft Active Directory to be used in parallel.
A one-year software subscription for OX SE for UCS including updates, patches and security fixes for 25 users is $US2,628.75 for the first year. Cost for each additional user is $US84 in the first year. For additional years, the software subscription cost is 25 percent of the first year. Also available are support offerings with different service level agreements.