Sun Updates iPlanet Messaging, Calendar Offerings

Sun Microsystems

iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 and Calendar Server have been bulked up for enterprise use.

"The goal is to broaden the ability of customers to communicate and collaborate not only with employees but externally with business partners," said John Fanelli, director of product marketing for iPlanet communications and portal products.

The mail is client-agnostic, meaning it can be tapped into from any Web-connected kiosk or workstation. The Calendar server adds automatic mail invitations and notifications for events, as well as XML and Java support.

Integrators said Sun has addressed some glitches in past offerings.

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"The new 5.2 is key because it addresses a number of issues, first of all in interoperability with iPlanet Directory Server 5.X," said Michel Bowman, chief architect of Accenture's Network Service Line. "It brings to the table fixes in application performance. The old 5.1 and 5.0 used a directory synchronization model [which made you have a local copy of directory on the MTA [message transfer agent. That wasn't a bad thing, but the mechanics of implementing it were very ugly, and scalability and performance around that was a bear ... took hours sometimes, almost a full day, to keep the directory in sync."

Sun hopes to use its new collaboration offerings, especially its portal, to make headway not only in service provider messaging but in large enterprise accounts where Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino dominate, observers said.

"It's an end run, a back door [in. Sun will succeed in the enterprises because, unlike the other guys who dominate through messaging, Sun has a portal," Bowman said.

The server software supports Solaris, HP-UX, and Windows 2000.