Open-Xchange

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OX App Suite
Developer(s)	Open-Xchange
Stable release	7.4.1^[1] / (2013-11-21)
Operating system	SLES, RHEL, Debian, Univention Corporate Server, CentOS
Type	Web desktop
License	Backend (GPLv2), Frontend Creative Commons
Website	open-xchange.com

Open-Xchange^[2] develops, markets and sells web-based communication, collaboration and office productivity software, which enables full integration of email, documents, scheduling and social media. The company is privately owned and headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, with offices in San Jose, CA, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

History

The company started with development of a Linux-based Email and Groupware solution that was positioned as open source alternative to Microsoft Exchange, namely Open-Xchange Server SUSE Linux Openexchange Server (SLOX, an OEM version for SUSE Linux).

In 2006 1&1 entrusted Open-Xchange and to build a scalable Email and collaboration software for hosted deployments that is deployed to users as Software as a service. The result, Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, is used by more than 80 cloud and hosting providers, cloud and hosting providers, telcos and local Internet services to provide more than 80m users (as of 2013) with branded Cloud services such as 1&1 MailXchange,^[3] Network Solutions Business Email,^[4] Namecheap Email Hosting,^[5] Dotster Email,^[6] Cirrus Hosting Enterprise Email,^[7] and others. Branded as Open-Xchange Server Edition, the software was also made available for on-premise installations.

Driven by a desire to radically transform productivity software, key members of the original OpenOffice development team joined Open-Xchange in 2012 to engineer a cloud-based office suite from scratch using state-of-the-art HTML5 and Java Script technology.

In 2013, Open-Xchange released OX App Suite, a web desktop that provides central access to digital assets and consistent user experience on all devices, as well as OX Documents, a cloud-based office productivity suite that complements OX App Suite. Service providers and on-premise users can move to OX App Suite with an update of ´Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, respectively Open-Xchange Server Edition.

Overview

OX App Suite delivers a set of applications that supports easy management of email, contacts, calendars, media and all documents, optimizing workflow and productivity in this era of information overload. With the integration of Google Mail, Hotmail, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, users benefit from intuitive communication and sharing across all devices while ensuring that data stays secure in a central storage.

Developed by key members of the OpenOffice developmemt team, Open-Xchange introduced OX Documents, a cloud-based office productivity suite, featuring OX Text, an in-browser word processing tool. A pioneering feature of OX Text is non-destructive support of Microsoft Office and OpenOffice or LibreOffice file formats. XML-based documents can be seamlessly read, edited and saved back to the original format at a level of quality and fidelity previously unavailable with browser-based text editors. OX Documents also provides viewing support for all major file formats. OX Text will be joined by OX Spreadsheet and OX Presentation to complete the OX Documents in 2014.

Technology

OX App Suite consists of a Java-based backend, implemented as an OSGi bundle, a frontend implemented in JavaScript and various extensions. Based on a proven and highly scalable Linux, Apache and MySQL backend, Open-Xchange designed the OX App Suite web interface with responsive design principles, providing a consistent experience and ultra-fast performance across all devices regardless of location.

Backend

The backend can be deployed as a single-instance server or as a scalable, fault-tolerant cluster providing up to several million virtual instances of OX App Suite for many tenants concurrently. The backend supports a comprehensive range of protocols for configuration and communication with the frontend. Details can be found at .

Since 2006 Open-Xchange supports SSL and TLS, thereby enabling encrypted communication between the clients and the Groupware server.

Frontend

A non-open-source AJAX based user interface enabling operating system independent, installation free deployment via Web browser. Alternatively end users can access Open-Xchange Server via client software like e.g. Mozilla Thunderbird, Mobility Devices or Microsoft Outlook.

Availability

OX App Suite can be download^[8] for evaluation and and non-supported use. To get maintenance, technical support and access components with 3rd party licenses such as Connector for Microsoft Outlook and Connector for Business Mobility (ActiveSync) users need to buy a license key.

Licensing

OX App Suite Backend is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2, the Frontend is released under Creative Commons Share Alike, Non Commercial, Attribution. These licenses allow use without payment, including in commercial environments. The restriction to Non Commercial in the Creative Commons license for the Frontend restricts re-distribution to third parties, i.e. hosted deployments for third parties. However, since the front-end license prohibits commercial re-distribution, the software is neither free software nor open source software since the definitions of both require such re-distribution to be permitted.^[9]^[10]

Functional overview

Webmail
Portal view
Integration of widgets and RSS feeds into Portal view
Team Calendaring
Personal and Team View
Free / Busy View
Contact Management
Task Lists
Document Management
WebDAV interface
Java API
Outlook plugin (commercial offerings)
Web-Based Client (AJAX)
Microsoft Outlook® Connectivity
Synchronization of Mac OS X applications via CardDAV and CalDAV
Import of CSV, iCal, and vCard files - WebDAV interface
Central editing of external E-mail accounts (e.g. from Google, Yahoo, GMX)
Synchronize addresses of Social Business Networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, XING)
ISPConfig control panel integration^[11]

External links

References

v t e Free and open-source collaborative software

Client-Server	Bongo Buni Meldware Citadel DAViCal Kolab SOGo (OpenGroupware.org) Bynari Open-Xchange OBM Groupware Scalix Zimbra Zarafa

Web-based	Citadel eGroupWare eXo Platform Group-Office Horde KnowledgeTree Kolab Feng Office Community Edition OBM Groupware phpGroupWare Simple Groupware SOGo (OpenGroupware.org) Tine 2.0

Personal information managers	Evolution Kontact Spicebird Mozilla Sunbird Mozilla Thunderbird / Lightning

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