VMware has partnered Cisco and Mitel to embed unified communications capabilities within its Zimbra Collaboration Server 8.0 virtual software appliance for deploying messaging and collaboration in private or public clouds.
"We're witnessing a fundamental shift in the way people work, and in turn a new set of demands that are put on IT infrastructure and applications like email and integration communications," said John Robb, senior director at VMware. "Zimbra 8 [connects] end users with their data while providing IT departments a simple way to manage the transition to a public or private cloud."
"More than ever, our customers are asking for cloud-based collaboration services that deliver compelling, integrated, productivity-enhancing user experiences," said Laurent Philonenko, vice president of Cisco Unified Communications, which will integrate collaboration applications such as Cisco Jabber and Cisco WebEx with Zimbra.
"Mitel and VMware have delivered virtualized voice apps to more than 2,000 Mitel clients of all sizes," said Alan Zurakowski, director of business development and strategic alliances for Mitel. "By offering an out-of-the-box integration with Zimbra, we're providing end users with a great, streamlined unified communications experience, while simplifying usability, deployment, maintenance and upgrades for both Zimbra and Mitel apps."
As a consolidated collaboration service for messaging, calendar and contacts with enterprise IT security controls, Zimbra can be delivered as a service in a private or public cloud. Management features include simplified upgrades and migrations with less than 60 seconds of mailbox downtime; SaaS administration and self-service capabilities; end-user distribution list management from the web client; and search and recovery of deleted items across mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks based on IT defined recovery retention policies.
The Zimbra 8.0 beta is available for download. A redesigned interface and a mailbox help manage the flow of information through email, calendar, voice and social channels.