Groove Networks Offers Preview of 3.0 Virtual-Office Software New Features for Enterprises and End Users Eric Grevstad
Mon 3/22/04 -- Groove Networks Inc. has released a public beta version of Groove 3.0 ahead of its commercial release later this year. The beta, offered to licensed users of Groove 2.0 and higher, brings across-the-board enhancements to the company's groupware and virtual-office platform that lets dispersed teams and mobile workers collaborate securely over the network as if they were in the same location.
The new software offers a forms-based application environment that lets corporate developers and end users alike create customized, process-specific solutions for geographically distributed workgroups. Groove 3.0 forms can be used to capture, search, track, measure, and report on information without deploying special, costly application servers or virtual private networks; a new Web services API connects Groove with enterprise data.
The peer-to-peer Groove client has been improved with a streamlined user interface and new, secure file-sharing technology that enables standard Windows file folders to be shared or automatically synchronized across any number of users' PCs, even across firewall boundaries, with remote file sharing and collaboration replacing the back-and-forth volley of e-mails with file attachments. A new LaunchPad makes common tasks related to workspaces and contacts available from a single location, while improved visual and audible alerts signal when individuals come online or perform important activities.
Groove 3.0 will ship in the third quarter of this year for $69 (Standard Edition), $179 (Professional Edition), and $229 (Project Edition); the latter two are available at a 20-percent discount through June 2004. Both hosted relay and management services -- priced at $70 per user per year -- and enterprise server licenses are available.
