2. Novell Collaboration Vision
Table of Contents: 2 . . . . . Executive Summary
2 . . . . . Leveraging New Interactions
to Create Business Success
5. . . . . . Open, Enterprise-Ready
Architecture
8 . . . . . Secure, Controlled and
Compliant Interactions
9. . . . . . New and Innovative
User Experience
10 . . . . . Enabling Innovation,
Productivity and Success
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3. Executive Summary
The Novell collaboration Next-generation collaboration solutions play Leveraging New Interactions
vision enables organiza- a vital role in helping organizations find new to Create Business Success
tions to leverage their and more effective ways to maximize work-
existing IT infrastructure force productivity and business success. Organizations constantly look for better
investments to securely, For example, many of the emerging real-time ways to help their people innovate and boost
simply and cost-effectively and social collaboration tools used by the productivity, and collaboration plays a major
converge the best of newest generation of workers in their personal role in that effort. As organizations evaluate
traditional collaboration lives present new opportunities for busines- how collaboration can drive innovation and
environments and ses. If harnessed properly, these unique productivity, they begin to identify key market
the latest real-time, interactions have the potential to significantly trends that affect collaboration.
social interactions. increase business innovation and productivity.
Unfortunately, organizations may struggle to The first of these trends revolves around the
see how they can successfully and securely evolution of the data center. Instead of data
integrate these new interactions into their centers filled with single-purpose servers
traditional collaboration environments and running specific applications, the introduction
evolving data center plans without introducing of virtualization has spawned a more service-
higher costs, complexity and risk. driven model where multiple applications and
services can be flexibly packaged to run on
The Novell® collaboration vision enables different servers. This service-driven concept
organizations to leverage their existing IT has opened the door to the next evolutionary
infrastructure investments to securely, simply stage: the cloud-computing model where
and cost-effectively converge the best of organizations begin to virtualize and orches-
traditional collaboration environments and the trate their service workloads to run on either
latest real-time, social interactions. With an internal or external clouds. As part of this
open collaboration architecture supported move toward a cloud-computing model,
by enterprise-level security and management, many organizations have begun to add
Novell will bring together disparate collabora- hosted collaboration applications to their
tion systems, tools and technologies, while traditional, on-premise collaboration tools.
delivering a new and innovative collaboration
user experience that drives new levels of
productivity and business success.
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4. Novell Collaboration Vision www.novell.com
The new generation
of workers, sometimes
referred to as “digital
natives,” has never
known a world without
the Internet, and they
leverage it to communi-
cate in multiple ways.
Figure 1. Evolutions in the Marketplace
In addition, the popularity and skyrocketing For this new generation of workers, collabora-
personal use of social networking tools have tion information sources have also expanded
led to significant inroads in the workplace. beyond e-mail attachments to include videos,
The new generation of workers, sometimes blogs, wikis and social forums. In fact, the
referred to as “digital natives,” has never online workspace is increasingly becoming
known a world without the Internet, and they the preferred “home base” for productive
leverage it to communicate in multiple ways— and innovative collaboration, freeing workers
primarily using short, real-time messages from the limitations of traditional desktop
and socially enabled tools such as Twitter*, tools. Finally, mobile devices, including smart
LinkedIn* and Facebook. While they might phones and netbooks, have become primary
use e-mail for person-to-person interactions, information and collaboration access points
it only makes up a small part of their total for nearly all types of workers. All of these
collaboration experience. trends put pressure on IT organizations to
support a new class of consumer-based
Since digital natives already use social tools collaboration and social networking tools
to enrich their personal lives, they expect to that must be merged with traditional
use these tools in their work lives as well. collaboration solutions.
p. 3
5. Novell is uniquely
positioned to help
organizations enable
these new interactions
that drive business
innovation and growth,
while helping IT fulfill its
responsibility to protect
and safeguard critical
corporate assets.
Figure 2. New Interconnected Tools
Forward-looking organizations understand business afford to impede workforce collabo-
that nurturing these new types of interactions ration by failing to adopt these new tools
can create significant business opportunities. and interactions?
They can enhance their ability to reach out to
the outside world and tap into new communi- Novell is uniquely positioned to help orga-
ties that provide broader and richer sources nizations enable these new interactions that
of creativity and innovation. They enable a drive business innovation and growth, while
model for more dynamic relationships— helping IT fulfill its responsibility to protect
a model that fosters new and better ways and safeguard critical corporate assets.
to solve problems and grow the business. Novell has always been a leader in collabo-
ration, and today it’s at the forefront of the
However, embracing these collaboration space—building out a collaboration vision
trends and enabling these new interactions that drives business innovation and growth
can create IT challenges in the areas of cost, in a secure and enterprise-compliant manner.
complexity and risk. How much will support-
ing this new breed of tools and interactions The key pieces of the Novell collaboration
cost? Can it be done in a way that maximizes vision include:
usage of the existing IT infrastructure? How will
it mesh with the organization’s data center An open, enterprise-ready architecture for
evolution plans? Can the new tools and bringing together disparate collaboration
interactions be integrated through open systems, tools and technologies
standards? What interoperability challenges Enterprise-level security, compliance
will the delivery models create? How can and management applied to converging
the organization mitigate cloud security risks, traditional and next-generation
as well as the security and privacy issues collaboration environments
associated with new social collaboration A world-class, new and innovative
tools? And, perhaps most importantly, can the collaboration user experience
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6. Novell Collaboration Vision www.novell.com
Open, Enterprise-ready and interactions together in a way that allows The world doesn’t
Architecture people and technology to work as one— necessarily need another
even while the market grows and evolves. e-mail system, social
Interoperability is at the core of everything network or chat tool.
To serve as the foundation for this vision,
Novell delivers. Novell recognizes that Instead, all those pieces
Novell will deliver an open collaboration
there are many great technologies that can need to be brought
architecture—one that encompasses all of
contribute key pieces to an organization’s together in a secure and
the other elements discussed in this paper.
collaboration ecosystem. The world doesn’t compliant enterprise
This architecture will ultimately include a
necessarily need another e-mail system, collaboration solution
number of new capabilities; however,
social network or chat tool. Instead, all those that drives innovation
Novell will be delivering critical elements
pieces need to be brought together in a and growth.
secure and compliant enterprise collaboration of its collaboration architecture in the short
solution that drives innovation and growth. term as well.
So, instead of trying to make e-mail and
office suites the center of its collaboration The underlying power of the Novell collabo-
strategy as other vendors are doing, Novell is ration architecture is that it will provide a
building its next-generation open collabora- secure, robust and flexible framework that
tion architecture on modern technologies that enables organizations to leverage their
leverage its core strengths to bring together existing IT infrastructures. It will also empower
the right people, tools and interactions. workers to take advantage of all their pre-
ferred interactions, harmoniously blending
The Novell collaboration vision provides a traditional and social collaboration tools in
long-term strategy that brings these tools a secure and controlled manner.
Figure 3. Novell Open Collaboration Architecture
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7. Novell delivers Core Novell Services Layer Additionally, Novell soon plans to deliver Novell
fully virtualized and DataSync, a key element of the architecture
The Novell collaboration architecture is built on
orchestrated workload that also resides at the collaboration services
top of core Novell services, including SUSE®
services that can run on layer. Novell DataSync is a bi-directional,
Linux Enterprise Server, and is managed
traditional infrastructures, many-to-many synchronization engine that
by Novell workload and business service
internal clouds or the connects disparate collaboration solutions,
management solutions. Novell delivers fully
external cloud. business-critical applications and mobile
virtualized and orchestrated workload services
devices. Novell DataSync will play an integral
that can run on traditional infrastructures,
role in seamlessly bringing together the
internal clouds or the external cloud. Utilizing
people, tools and interactions that drive
Novell PlateSpin® and Managed Objects™
greater innovation and productivity.
offerings, the Novell collaboration architecture
will also provide organizations with world-
To accomplish this, Novell DataSync
class workload management as their data
enables seamless back-end synchronization
centers grow and evolve. These workloads will
of e-mail, calendar items, tasks, events and
be able to run in existing data centers, internal
any other collaboration data to multiple
clouds or external clouds. The business service
systems. It will allow data from external
management aspects of the collaboration
enterprise applications such as CRM, ERP
architecture will enable organizations to more
and other business solutions—along with
effectively monitor and manage their overall
content from traditional products like Novell
IT infrastructures.
GroupWise®, Novell Teaming, Exchange and
SharePoint*—to be synchronized across
Collaboration Services Layer
systems. As changes occur in these systems,
Many of the architecture’s collaboration Novell DataSync stores the changes in real
services will take advantage of technolo- time and allows other connected systems
gies found in current and future versions of to access them.
existing Novell product lines, including Novell
Open Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server. Technologies such
as Novell Storage Manager and
Dynamic Storage Technology will
provide data location and life-
cycle management services
that deliver policy-based
file distribution, enabling
organizations to optimize
the way data is stored and
accessed. Novell caching
technologies will provide
the foundation for enabling
offline collaboration
experiences. And the
architecture’s indexing and
discovery capabilities will be
key to allowing users to quickly
find relevant information within the
system, across corporate data
repositories or from the Internet.
Figure 4. Novell DataSync Synchronization
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8. Novell Collaboration Vision www.novell.com
As a multi-source, multi-target synchronization engine, Novell DataSync is not necessarily
tied to any specific collaboration solution. However, its integration benefits will first be seen
through connectors for Novell GroupWise and Novell Teaming. In addition to the Novell
GroupWise and Novell Teaming connectors, Novell will soon release connectors for SharePoint,
SugarCRM*, salesforce.com and ActiveSync*. Novell also plans to release connectors for
Documentum and SAP in the near future.
Figure 5. Novell DataSync Synchronization Engine
Additionally, through the Novell DataSync related to teams, contacts and groups. The
software development kit and its open API, Teaming connector is provided as part of
Novell partners will be able to deliver custom Novell Teaming.
connectors for their own systems as well as
other third-party solutions. This will enable SharePoint Connector
users to share relevant content from an even The Novell DataSync connector for Microsoft*
wider variety of collaboration and enterprise SharePoint will synchronize team calendar
systems, including CRM, ECM and docu- data, team task data and team documents
ment management systems; cloud-based between SharePoint and Novell GroupWise.
social applications; and even competing The connector will also synchronize all
collaboration solutions. team-related data between SharePoint
and Novell Teaming.
Novell GroupWise Connector
The Novell DataSync connector for Novell SugarCRM Connector
GroupWise leverages the SOAP interface to The Novell DataSync connector for
synchronize e-mail, tasks, calendar data and SugarCRM will synchronize e-mail, meeting,
contact information across collaboration sys- call, task and contact data between the
tems. The GroupWise connector is provided open source SugarCRM solution and any
as part of Novell GroupWise. connected system.
Novell Teaming Connector Salesforce.com Connector
The Novell DataSync connector for Novell The Novell DataSync connector for
Teaming synchronizes personal calendar salesforce.com will synchronize event, task
and task information across collaboration and contact data between the salesforce.com
systems. In the future, the Novell Teaming CRM solution and any connected system.
connector will also synchronize information
p. 7
9. By leveraging the strengths of enterprise- facilitate administration of user and group
management. Additionally, the solution allows
proven Novell security and compliance users to log in and manage their own
capabilities, the Novell collaboration connector-specific settings.
architecture will enable workers to take Secure, Controlled and
advantage of all their preferred interactions— Compliant Interactions
whether traditional or next-generation—in a Designed for on-premise or cloud-based
environments, the Novell approach securely
secure and controlled manner. blends traditional and social collaboration tools
by wrapping them within the safety of Novell
security solutions. By leveraging the strengths
While a single Novell ActiveSync Connector
of enterprise-proven Novell security and
DataSync engine can The Novell DataSync connector for ActiveSync
compliance capabilities, the Novell collabo-
run multiple connectors, will provide the mobile support foundation
ration architecture will enable workers to take
the solution’s scalable for Novell GroupWise and Novell Teaming
advantage of all their preferred interactions—
architecture enables moving forward. The mobile support Novell
whether traditional or next-generation—
organizations to deploy will provide with this connector will bring users
in a secure and controlled manner. These
multiple synchronization even more capabilities, performance and
capabilities will work hand-in-hand with the
engines running multiple device flexibility than they’ve enjoyed with
architecture to safeguard interactions, meet
connectors to help admin- Novell GroupWise Mobile Server. Novell will
compliance requirements, and allow collabo-
istrators appropriately continue to support GroupWise Mobile Server
ration tools to work harmoniously with robust
manage the service’s until the transition to ActiveSync is complete.
identity and security services.
workload.
The ActiveSync connector will synchronize For example, Novell Identity Manager
e-mail, contact and calendar data, and will automates user provisioning and account
work with any mobile devices and operating management by synchronizing users’ iden-
systems that support the ActiveSync protocol, tities between systems, such as corporate
including iPhone*, Windows* Mobile, Palm* applications and collaboration tools. To
OS, Symbian, Android, BREW* and J2ME*. facilitate security and compliance within the
To deliver this wide range of support, Novell next-generation collaboration sphere, Novell
is working closely with a number of partners will extend this capability to include Web
including Notify Technology, Toffa International services such as social networking systems.
and OpenHand. Novell will also continue its Within these identities, administrators will be
strong partnership with Research In Motion to able to store all the policies that control how,
deliver comprehensive BlackBerry* support. when and where users interact. As a result,
with just a single identity, users will be able to
Novell DataSync Administration access all their different systems— whether
While a single Novell DataSync engine can run they are enterprise or social, and whether
multiple connectors, the solution’s scalable they are on-premise or in the cloud.
architecture enables organizations to deploy
multiple synchronization engines running Novell DataSync will leverage content policy
multiple connectors to help administrators and identity controls to ensure that only
appropriately manage the service’s work- relevant and authorized external content
load. These engines and connectors can is synchronized to and from the platform.
be managed through a central interface, Relevant data from personal e-mail, Twitter,
which facilitates usage of the synchronization Facebook and much more can also be
service. While not required, Novell DataSync synchronized based on identity and policy.
can leverage an LDAP directory to further
p. 8
10. Novell Collaboration Vision www.novell.com
As another example, the collaboration solu- The new user interface addresses head-on The new interface will
tions could leverage Novell Access Manager™ the growing problem that organizations and deliver a revolutionary
to allow users to invite people they trust to users face in having to use a multitude of user experience that
join their teams. Novell event monitoring collaboration tools. People often end up blends all of the elements
technology could also be used within the switching between a rich desktop application of authoring, collaboration
framework of the collaboration architecture to for e-mail and calendaring, to a browser for and communication in a
enable authorized agents to track everything workspaces, and back to other desktop appli- simple and powerful way.
that takes place online. As part of the Novell cations for creating documents, presentations
collaboration architecture, all of these core and spreadsheets. To join an online meeting
identity and security services will be delivered or instant message, they switch to a different
seamlessly across enterprise installations— rich client. Then they switch to yet another
whether they’re located on-premise or in client or browser to access their enterprise
the cloud. applications. This frequent change in environ-
ment drains productivity and increases the
New and Innovative risk of errors. The new interface eliminates this
User Experience application switching by providing a single,
unified context where users can access all
At the interface layer of the Novell
the tools, people and interactions they need
Collaboration vision, Novell plans to intro-
to be productive.
duce an innovative new user interface that
is completely extensible and designed to
The new user experience also enables new
interact openly with third-party applications.
collaborative interactions with a broader set
The new interface will deliver a revolutionary
of participants. Rather than relying solely on
user experience that blends all of the elements
a push model that sends information to an
of authoring, collaboration and communica-
explicit audience, the interface lets organiza-
tion in a simple and powerful way.
tions easily identify the most relevant and
helpful target audiences. It also enables the
As a real-time, unified social and document
quick, ad hoc creation of distributed teams
collaboration environment, the user experi-
comprised of members who offer unique and
ence delivers:
innovative insights, expertise and experience.
A unified in-box for e-mail, social
For example, the user interface will provide an
networking tools, chat and documents
environment for ad-hoc swarming to solicit
that blends personal, business, team
inventive solutions from customers, partners
and social interactions
and suppliers when an urgent crisis or difficult
“Easy as e-mail” team creation and greater
business issue develops. This can enable
awareness of team presence
productive new interactions among the right
Real-time commenting, activity monitoring
people inside and outside of the business.
and notifications
Instant, fail-safe, real-time document
Reducing reliance on the antiquated and
co-browsing
bloated “attach-and-send” document col-
Collaborative authoring
laboration model, this innovative interface
Synchronization and filtering of
enables users to share, co-browse and
information from enterprise and consumer
co-author documents in the cloud without
cloud services to deliver “live,” relevant
requiring a Web meeting. It can also quickly
information from many sources and
render and scale PDF, Microsoft Office
formats
and OpenOffice.org documents within the
user’s browser.
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