Brief History of Zimbra Collaboration Server (ZCS)

Brief History of Zimbra Collaboration Server (ZCS)
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History of ZCS

The Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) is an open source messaging and collaboration application. ZCS uses a conglomeration of well known open source components to cohesively provide a competitive and unique solution for enterprises of all sizes. The primary component of ZCS are:

MySQL - Metabase store

Postfix - MTA

Apache Tomcat - Web Server (client and admin)

OpenLDAP - Directory services

Lucene - Index and Search engine

SpamAssassin - Anti-spam

ClamAV - Anti-virus

Verity - Attachment conversion to HTML

ZCS code brings these components together. A somewhat agile development process has allowed ZCS to absorb new feature requests and apply bug fixes fairly efficiently, which is reflected in the release timeline listed below.

ZCS 3.0 Beta1 September 21, 2005

ZCS 3.0 Beta2 November 15, 2005

ZCS 3.0 Beta3 January, 7, 2006

ZCS 3.0 February 7, 2006

ZCS 3.0.1 February 21, 2006

ZCS 3.1 April 14, 2006

ZCS 3.1.1 May 8, 2006

ZCS 3.1.2 May 31, 2006

ZCS 3.1.3 June 13, 2006

ZCS 3.1.4 June 27, 2006

ZCS 3.2 Beta1 June 29, 2006

ZCS 3.2 Beta2 July 24, 2006

ZCS 4.0 RC1 August 15, 2006

ZCS 4.0 August 30, 2006

ZCS 4.0.1 September 8, 2006

ZCS 4.0.2 September 25, 2006

ZCS 4.0.3 October 17, 2006

ZCS 4.0.4 November 26, 2006

ZCS 4.0.5 December 19, 2006

ZCS 4.5 Beta1 November 10, 2006

ZCS 4.5 RC1 December 16, 2006

ZCS 4.5 RC2 January 8, 2007

ZCS 4.5 January 16, 2007

ZCS 4.5.1 February 5, 2007

ZCS 4.5.2 February 21, 2007

ZCS 4.5.3 March 1, 2007

ZCS 4.5.5 May 7, 2007

ZCS 4.5.6 June 28, 2007

ZCS 4.5.7 September 18, 2007

ZCS 4.5.8 October 8, 2007

ZCS 4.5.9 October 22, 2007

ZCS 4.5.10 November 21, 2007

ZCS 4.5.11 February 1, 2008

ZCS 5.0 Beta 1 June 5, 2007

ZCS 5.0 Beta 2 July 25, 2007

ZCS 5.0 Beta 3 August 27, 2007

ZCS 5.0 RC1 October 4, 2007

ZCS 5.0 RC2 November 21, 2007

ZCS 5.0 December 31, 2007

ZCS 5.0.1 January 10, 2008

ZCS 5.0.2 February 1, 2008

ZCS 5.0.3 March 20, 2008

ZCS 5.0.4 March 24, 2008

ZCS 5.0.5 April 17, 2008

ZCS 5.0.6 May 23, 2008

ZCS 5.0.7 July 1, 2008

ZCS 5.0.8 July 15, 2008

ZCS garnered considerable attention for its client usability [See Figure 1], both prior to and after its release in early 2006. The use of AJAX and mashups set ZCS apart from other Exchange Server wannabes like Scalix and PostPath. Mashups, called Zimlets, provide a unique API to bring various service and collaboration components right into the web client. Examples of this include instant messaging and voice options as well as text pattern recognition (like identifying ID numbers (ie the American Social Security number). Indeed, it positions ZCS in a slightly different realm than Exchange Server and helps make it a viable competitor and alternative. Administration is done through an admin web interface [See Figure 2] or using the Zimbra Command Line Interface (CLI).

ZCS is available for several flavors of Linux as well as Mac OS. ZCS ships with a commercial Network edition in addition to a free open source edition. Several complementary components are available to meet needs of different companies. An Archive and Discovery option assists companies with extra storage or regulatory compliance needs while a Desktop option provides a local copy of the client for offline use. Zimbra Mobile interfaces with various mobile devices, allowing so-called ‘push’ e-mail, in addition to a Blackberry Connector. And Outlook connector provides MAPI connectivity to ZCS for Microsoft Outlook users. ZCS has developed a niche in the college market and also has some ISP and hosted ZCS deployments out there.

On September 17, 2007, Yahoo! officially acquired Zimbra. Development of ZCS continues with the current version of ZCS is 5.08.

Screenshots

Figure 2: Admin Interface

This post is part of the series: A Brief History

The Brief History series of articles summarizes products and applications in the messaging and collaboration realm.

  1. A Brief History of Microsoft Outlook
  2. A Brief History of Microsoft Exchange Server
  3. A Brief History of RSS Feeds & Who Invented It
  4. A Brief History of AOL
  5. A Brief History of Skype
  6. A Brief History of Zimbra Collaboration Suite
  7. A Brief History of the Blackberry