Brief History of Zimbra Collaboration Server (ZCS)
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
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.
