Note: Version 2.0 of GroupWise Messenger is now available. This article was written shortly after the version 1.0 release and has not been updated.
Overview
Companies today are using instant messaging
more than ever as a standard way of communicating with
employees.
It's fast, convenient, and simple to use. But how can you
guarantee that your communications are secure? How can
you prevent someone
from intercepting a confidential message? How can your company
afford to support the various messengers that employees install?
With most instant Messengers, you are not guaranteed privacy,
security, or much of anything else.
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GroupWise Messenger 1.0
GroupWise Messenger is a great tool that is bundled with GroupWise 6.5, Novell's premier email and collaboration package. GroupWise Messenger is awesome
for internal corporate communications and offers a secure
medium
for transferring instant messages.
Novell does not intend for the messenger to compete with Yahoo,
MSN, or other
free messengers. However, from a corporate viewpoint, it has several major
advantages, and should be considered by all companies
that value the security of their corporate communications.
GroupWise Messenger runs on a server within your network. It
can be installed on any existing Novell server, or it can also run on a Windows
2000 server. If you are familiar with GroupWise, it runs as an agent much
like the GroupWise agents. The installation of the server component is very
painless. The Messenger client is also
very simple to install, and can be done from a web interface on the Messaging
agent. The
install
file is very small, approximately 3MB.
GroupWise Messenger integrates seamlessly with eDirectory, so
no additional user management is required. Users login with their normal Novell
username and password. Users can add people to the contact list, or you can
create "Mandatory Contacts" that are automatically displayed for users when
they login.
Summary
GroupWise is an Excellent tool for internal corporate communication.
It is secure, and helps maintain the privacy and confidentiality of messages.
If you have any questions about GroupWise Messenger or any other networking
technology, please feel free to send
me an email. I reply to all emails, and may even feature
your question in my Questions
and Answers column.
The next few pages show sample screen shots and discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of the GroupWise Messenger. |
