Shaking Things up With Alfresco Enterprise 3.0

Paula Rooney writes in this post on ZDNet that Alfresco will be releasing a major upgrade to its current enterprise content management system, Alfresco Enterprise 3.0, which will have many new collaboration features and services.

It is due to be released on Halloween, and it will feature Share which is a collaborative content solution that makes capturing, sharing, and accessing information across virtual teams much simpler. It will also offer support for CMIS specification as well as the Microsoft Office Sharepoint Protocol. It will be interesting to see how the enterprise will respond to Alfresco’s latest offering

CMS Watch Presents Enterprise Portal Marketplace Going Into 2009

CMS Watch in conjunction with the IT & Business Alignment Forum presents a complimentary one hour web seminar presented by Tony Byrne. The webinar Enterprise Portal Marketplace Going Into 2009 will be presented by Tony Byrne of CMS Watch on Thursday September 25^th from 2:00 to 3:00 PM EDT. Don’t miss your chance to view this webinar free of charge, as Tony’s last webinar “Evaluating SharePoint from a Business Perspective” generated a huge response. Here’s a brief description of the webinar:

Enterprise Portal technology underpins many enterprise integration and SOA strategies. However, going into 2009 the portal marketplace is in some flux, as older technologies and platforms become deprecated while new use cases around social computing emerge. Meanwhile, the rise of Microsoft SharePoint has led to divergent reactions among traditional enterprise portal suppliers – like IBM, Oracle, and SAP – while open source portal projects continue to expand vigorously.

Please join noted analyst firm CMS Watch to learn more about where the enterprise portal marketplace is headed so you can carefully plan your 2009 investments in this critical area.

What you will learn by attending:

· How the enterprise portal marketplace is segmented today

· Shifting vendor strategies in the face of SharePoint

· What open source portal platforms bring to the table

· How Portals relate to Enterprise 2.0

· Common enterprise portal use cases

· How to go about selecting the right portal technology

Don’t miss your chance register for the webinar by clicking on this register button below:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/875154842

Online Collaboration: Make Way for Microsoft

Google and Zoho watch out, Microsoft is taking aim at the same market these SAAS vendors have been eyeing. This article on eWeek highlights that Microsoft is launching several online services that will include collaboration tools and enterprise applications. Microsoft will release the following products as online subscription services: Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Microsoft still seems to be light-years away in terms of online collaboration. Companies like Salesforce.com and Netsuite have integrated many enterprise applications that were designed for the Web, whereas Microsoft is new to the game. Should companies fear the arrival of Microsoft in this space?

Is Sharepoint the end of portal innovation?

Today, at Intelligent Enterprise, Shawn Shell wrote an article pondering the future of portals. As he currently sees it, SharePoint seems to have stopped all conversation when it comes to evolving portals.

SharePoint is taking the E2.0 world by storm, and the software does have 1 million seat licenses, as well as $1 billion in sales. The software is also used by business giants Accenture, Ford, and DelMonte. Although SharePoint still has its weaknesses (record management, digital assessment, and search requires add-ons to be worthy of use). This has all caused a slow down in the expansion of other portals being developed by other enterprises.

Shawn Shell believes that this is just a pause in development of portal history, and they history is not over. What do you think?

Sharepoint Gets an Upgrade

Today, Microsoft is expected to announce that their new software services Search Server 2008 Express and the Silverlight Blueprint for Sharepoint are now available. This news came from EWeek.

Search Server 2008 is a new free service that will be available to download. The new software will include a new set of capabilities to help businesses connect wide ranges of information. Silverlight combines the interactivity of Silverlight with the next generation web applications development platforms. Silverlight BluePrint is described as:

It includes sample applications that combine Silverlight and SharePoint, detailed guidance and proven best practices, and new rich business data visualizations and interactivity.

The registered number of SharePoint users is 2,250, with many more expected to have used this software in the corporations that utilize this software. SharePoint has also crossed the $1 billion profit mark.

Move over SharePoint, Google’s got a challenge

The New York Times posted a blog today about Google’s latest venture. It was announced yesterday that Google has unveiled their own version of Enterprise 2.0 software. With the announcement of Google Sites, Google has unveiled a tool that incorporates email, calendars, excels, documents and presentation software. What should Microsoft be the most worried about? It can be free of charge. And who is the brains behind this project? Joe Kraus, who was behind the website Excite which experienced its peak a few years ago, is the developer of this software.

The problem that Google might face when it comes to the technologies is that the information stored within the program is not on companies personal servers. The software also has limitations and is not as precise as SharePoint, but, since the application is free, many companies can overlook that.

I think Google is targeting little businesses. Huge corporations can afford that millions and millions of dollars it costs to finance Microsoft products. They probably already have SharePoint and are using the product effectively. However, for the millions of start ups and tiny companies that cannot pay the fees associated with keeping the Microsoft Suite up to date, this is a decent alternative. I think these programs will grow slowing into a developing marketplace.

ImageNow to Interact With Microsoft SharePoint

Perceptive Software’s ImageNow, an enterprise document management application, recently announced its release of ImageNow Interact for Microsoft Sharepoint. This article on PrimeNewswire explains how the integration will work. ImageNow documents will be hosted in SharePoint portals in order to provide direct access to employees, all that is needed is a secure internet connection. Matt Prentis, Perceptive Software manager of enterprise products and solutions, mentions:

"Interact for Microsoft SharePoint represents a significant addition to the ImageNow Interact product suite by providing a steadfast integration between the SharePoint and ImageNow platforms. Best-of-breed features from each environment can now be presented in a single, cohesive interface, delivering content to audiences at any scale."

PrimeNewswire gives the example of HR staff being able to effectively manage and update employee records. Think about it for a second, HR forms can easily be hosted on SharePoint portals where employees can easily access and update their information, thus eliminating unnecessary assistance from the HR staff. Well, what do you know, Web 2.0 tools in the enterprise does save time, money, and resources!