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Novell promotes email efficiency for customers and staff - NOVL

07/27/2009 - By Howard Earle Halpern - MyITVendor.ca News - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Novell GroupWise pulls several Web 2.0 tools into single window

TORONTO (07/27/2009) - Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) trained its staff Tuesday on how to use GroupWise software more efficiently. GroupWise is the company's collaboration and productivity platform. It includes both client and server software.

The training session is described in a blog on Novell's website posted by Dean Lythgoe, Director of GroupWise Engineering. He spent several hours attending and supporting the session, which addressed the proper use of email, file organization, and storage. About 30 minutes was devoted to efficiency and etiquette.

Novell's training session discouraged excessive use of "reply to all"

One topic was the way resources, human and otherwise, are frequently wasted, for example, by sending an email just to say "thank you." In addition, Novell staff were advised to "limit unnecessary use of reply to all, distribution lists, and Cc: in order to reduce message volume by 20%."

Lythgoe gives the session high marks: "overall - very good training; great topic and lots of good information to improve my own use of email."

The session was consistent with the company's mission to help boost productivity

Novell's training session was consistent with its mission to develop collaborative tools that boost productivity. GroupWise is such a tool. It lets users create customized dashboards that transform email from an isolated tool to an integrated environment. In a single view, users can see almost everything they need for a given project.

Novell GroupWise integrates multiple social networking tools into a single window

The software lets users pull a wide range of social networking devices into a single window: calendars, tasks, contacts, web pages, RSS feeds, wikis, and blogs, for starters.

Novell's "about" page describes the company as integrating "mixed IT environments," but does not indicate what the term means. IBM (NYSE:IBM) sheds light on the topic, using the term in the singular and referring to it as an entity that has more than one development environment (for example, Microsoft .NET or "IBM i") and uses different software for "collaboration, configuration, and change management."

A free download of the software is available for evaluation

The latest version of Novell's collaboration and productivity platform is GroupWise 8. A free download is available for evaluation. It lets users create a test GroupWise system that includes multiple domains, post offices, and users.

This news article is published by MyITVendor.ca, Canada's directory of information technology companies, products, and services. Located in Toronto, Ontario, MyITVendor.ca is owned by IT World Canada, an IDG affiliate.