Zimbra Features and Benefits

Zimbra is an open source email messaging and collaboration application.

The powerful Ajax web client integrates email, contacts, shared calendar and online document authoring into a rich browser-based interface.

Full support is provided for standards-based APIs (IMAP / POP / iCal / CalDAV) as well as MAPI and iSync, which enable seamless compatibility with other clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple desktop suite, and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Intuitive Message Management and Search

• Conversation View hides redundant messages that clutter up your inbox
• Search Builder is a simple "WYSIWYG" tool to make advanced queries; save favorite searches as "virtual" message folders
• "Tagging" automatically highlights email from important people
• You can view attachments (like Word or Acrobat files) immediately as HTML instead of downloading and opening them in another applications

Address Book

• Supports multiple Address Books (personal and server-side Global Address List)
• Easily share Address Books and contacts with peers
• Autocomplete from personal and/or Global Address List (GAL)
• Create personal distribution lists

Robust Personal and Shared Calendaring

• View multiple schedules as 'overlays' on your calendar, one click to toggle them on and off
• Complete resource and group scheduling, with delegated access
• Share and publish calendars with peers
• Subscribe to remote calendars as iCal feeds

Online Documents

• Create, share, and publish rich Documents online
• WYSIWYG editor makes it easy to add spreadsheets, images, etc.
• Turn Documents into collaborative Wiki pages
• First application to use the innovative AJAX Linking and Embedding (ALE) technology Zimbra pioneered

Easy Sharing and Publishing

• Simple sharing model common to Address Book, Calendar, and Documents
• Share internally (read and/or write access) or publish externally with a simple URL (read only).

POP Account Aggregation

• Set up multiple external email accounts to be viewed and managed within ZCS
• Email replies from different accounts can have different Signatures and Mail Identities

Voice Integration

• When used in conjunction with a VOIP gateway such as Asterisk, users can quickly launch calls, conference calls and to access voice mail from within the Zimbra Collaboration Suite

Productivity Enhancing "Mash-ups"

• Use Zimlets to get single click access to calendar, contacts and maps.
• Easily create new Zimlets for your unique needs

View Mail in Basic HTML Mode

• Basic mode with a non-Ajax web UI for poorer connections, legacy browsers or easier accessibility

Personalisation

• Users can choose their own colour themes
• Administrators may quickly re-brand and/or create new themes

Benefits of Commercial Version

Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Network Edition features enhancements not available in ZCS Open Source Edition:

• Support from Zimbra. Access to Support Portal for email, and phone crisis support plus file and track feature enhancements
• Desktop client compatibility. Sync mail, contacts, and calendar to Microsoft Outlook and/or to Apple (Mail, Address Book, iCal)
• Professional administration. Real time mailbox backup and restore, high availability clustering, storage cost management
• Zimbra Mobile. Over-the-air synchronization of mail, contacts, and calendar data with mobile devices.
• Advanced web productivity. Ability to search for content inside attachments and view attachments as HTML instead of downloading
• Domain management. Ability to re-brand the web client and administer multiple customer domains

Zimbra Technology

• Fast, easy install - all dependent components are packaged together in one simple installer
• Proven open source - built with Linux, Apache Tomcat, Postfix, MySQL, OpenLDAP, Lucene
• Uses industry standard open protocols - SMTP, LMTP, SOAP, XML, IMAP, POP, iCal, CalDAV
• Efficiency and horizontal scalability - Zimbra server is 3-5x faster than comparable systems, plus each server has its own data store, message store, and set mailbox accounts. To scale simply add more servers

Hosting Options

Shared Zimbra Server

• £4pm +VAT per mailbox incl 1GB storage per mailbox
• £1pm +VAT for additional 1GB storage
• Minimum fee £20 pm +VAT

Dedicated Zimbra Server

Xtraordinary provides fully managed Zimbra hosting using the commerical ZCS edition. Zimbra is typically deployed on one or more dedicated servers for use by 20 or more end users. Xtraordinary manages all "behind the scenes" aspects of server administration including daily backups. A customer administrator takes responsibility for managing user mailboxes and resources using a web administration login.

Costs for a fully managed solution start from around £350 per month +VAT. Xtraordinary is a Zimbra Partner and Zimbra ZCS licensing is available on "per user" basis. For a quote please , including an indication of the number of users and quantity of email stored.

• More Information : Zimbra Architecture