Collaba - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Collaba is a communication and collaboration platform

Collaboration platform

An emerging category of computer software, collaboration platforms are unified electronic platforms that support synchronous and asynchronous communication through a variety of devices and channels....

with a web portal and built-in servers for client applications.

The product is owned by SYPECom Inc. and runs on Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

, Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, or any other Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

-compatible operating system.

Collaba's primary market is the education sector, although its feature set allows it to be used in many other sectors, including in corporate and non-profit.

Features for end users

Collaba provides users with e-mail

E-mail

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

(web & pop3/smtp, ssl, crypto.), on-line forums

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

(web, rss, podcast, nntp), blogs (web, rss, podcast), wiki

Wiki

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

, multimedia chat

Whiteboarding

Whiteboarding is the placement of shared files on an on-screen shared notebook or whiteboard. Videoconferencing and data conferencing software often lets the user annotate the shared documents as on a physical whiteboard....

(text, drawing, multimedia), calendaring (iCalendar,WebDAV synchronization), address book

Address book

An address book or a name and address book is a book or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields...

, bookmarks organizer, web publishing, virtual file system

Virtual file system

A virtual file system or virtual filesystem switch is an abstraction layer on top of a more concrete file system. The purpose of a VFS is to allow client applications to access different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way...

(web, ftp, smb, cifs, webdav, cms, etc.), on-line office suite support, Qualified Dublin Core

Dublin Core

The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...

support, digital portfolio, dynamic news board, directory access, and more.

Features for server administrators

Collaba is a server application written in Java

Java (programming language)

. It can be installed on any computer and operating system that can run Java SE

Java Platform, Standard Edition

Java Platform, Standard Edition or Java SE is a widely used platform for programming in the Java language. It is the Java Platform used to deploy portable applications for general use...

5.0 or 6.0. It does not require any additional database, mail, web or any other kind of server software: all tools and services are provided by the single Collaba server process. Server administrators can manage Collaba through its management web interface. User accounts and user groups can be synchronized with LDAP directories (Active Directory

Active Directory

Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....

, Open Directory

Apple Open Directory

Apple Open Directory is the LDAP directory service model implementation from Apple Inc. A directory service is software which stores and organizes information about a computer network's users and network resources and which allows network administrators to manage users' access to the resources.In...

, OpenLDAP

OpenLDAP

OpenLDAP Software is a free, open source implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol developed by the OpenLDAP Project. It is released under its own BSD-style license called the OpenLDAP Public License. LDAP is a platform-independent protocol. Several common Linux distributions...

, and others) to facilitate management of large communities. Administrators can choose from a number of user authentication methods to simply identification across their network and avoid the need to manage user credentials in multiple places. A Virtual File System

Virtual file system

also allows administrators to integrate Collaba with existing file servers. See features list for a complete list of features related to server administration.

Features for developers

Collaba includes API

Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

s for enhancing/extending the platform:

Collaba Service Expansion API (Java): Allows developers to interconnect Collaba with a wide variety of external web-based services. The API allows for very simple to very complex integration, usually involving Single sign-on
Single sign-on
Single sign-on is a property of access control of multiple related, but independent software systems. With this property a user logs in once and gains access to all systems without being prompted to log in again at each of them...

.
Collaba Platform Expansion API (bundle): Provides easy-to-use extension points for plugging in third-party modules.
Collaba Persistence API (Java): Allows developers to add support for alternate database systems to Collaba.
Collaba Authentication API (Java): Provides a way of adding new methods of verifying a user's identity and credentials.
Collaba Client Engine (Java): Allows developers to design custom client applications that can communicate with a Collaba server.
Collaba Anti-Virus Service API (Java): Makes it possible for Collaba to have all uploaded attachments and files scanned by a third-party anti-virus scanning tool (like ClamAV).
Collaba VFS source (VFSCL): Provides complete control over the Virtual File System's structure.
Collaba VFS scripts (VFSSL): A scripting language for automating workflow inside Collaba's Virtual File System.
Collaba VFS script extensions (Java): Allows developers to create new commands for use in VFS scripts.
Collaba Whiteboard Toolkits (bundle): Allows developers to add new toolkits to Collaba's multimedia whiteboard.

Technologies

Collaba uses and/or supports the following technologies and standards:
Bonjour

Bonjour (software)

In computing, Bonjour is Apple Inc.'s trade name for its implementation of Zeroconf, a group of technologies that includes service discovery, address assignment, and name resolution...

, CAS

Central Authentication Service

The Central Authentication Service is a single sign-on protocol for the web. Its purpose is to permit a user to access multiple applications while providing their credentials only once. It also allows web applications to authenticate users without gaining access to a user's security credentials,...

, CSS

Cascading Style Sheets

Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...

, ClamAV

Clam AntiVirus

Clam AntiVirus is a free, cross-platform antivirus software tool-kit able to detect many types of malicious software, including viruses. One of its main uses is on mail servers as a server-side email virus scanner. The application was developed for Unix and has third party versions available for...

, DH

Diffie-Hellman key exchange

Diffie–Hellman key exchange Synonyms of Diffie–Hellman key exchange include:*Diffie–Hellman key agreement*Diffie–Hellman key establishment*Diffie–Hellman key negotiation...

, DNSBL

DNSBL

A DNSBL is a list of IP addresses published through the Internet Domain Name Service either as a zone file that can be used by DNS server software, or as a live DNS zone that can be queried in real-time...

, Dublin Core

Dublin Core

, FTP

File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...

, HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web....

, HTTPS

Https

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...

, JAAS

Java Authentication and Authorization Service

Java Authentication and Authorization Service, or JAAS, pronounced "Jazz", is a Java security framework for user-centric security to augment the Java code-based security...

, Java

Java (programming language)

, LDAP, MD5

MD5

The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm is a widely used cryptographic hash function that produces a 128-bit hash value. Specified in RFC 1321, MD5 has been employed in a wide variety of security applications, and is also commonly used to check data integrity...

, MIME

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions is an Internet standard that extends the format of email to support:* Text in character sets other than ASCII* Non-text attachments* Message bodies with multiple parts...

, NNTP

Network News Transfer Protocol

The Network News Transfer Protocol is an Internet application protocol used for transporting Usenet news articles between news servers and for reading and posting articles by end user client applications...

, POP3

Post Office Protocol

In computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...

, Podcast

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

, RSS

RSS

-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...

, SAN

Storage area network

A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...

, SMB/CIFS

Server Message Block

In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...

, SMTP, SSL, TSL

Transport Layer Security

Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...

, VFS

Virtual file system

, WebDAV

WebDAV

Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...

, XHTML

XHTML

XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....

, XML

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

, Zeroconf

Zeroconf

Zero configuration networking , is a set of techniques that automatically creates a usable Internet Protocol network without manual operator intervention or special configuration servers....

, iCalendar

ICalendar

iCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...

, vCard

VCard

vCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to e-mail messages, but can be exchanged in other ways, such as on the World Wide Web or Instant Messaging...

Early history

In 2001, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

's school districts were approaching the end of a three-year provincial agreement http://www.aquops.qc.ca/article.php3?id_article=67 with SoftArc (now Open Text

Open text

In semiotic analysis, an open text is a text that allows multiple or mediated interpretation by the readers. In contrast, a closed text leads the reader to one intended interpretation....

) for the annual acquisition of FirstClass

FirstClass

FirstClass is a client/server groupware, email, online conferencing, voice/fax services, and bulletin-board system for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux...

software licenses at a very low cost per student. Near the expiration date of the agreement, a group of school districts began to search for a replacement product that would meet their needs, but none was found that did exactly what they wanted.

So on November 21, 2001, SYPECom officially announced that it would start developing a new communication platform called Collaba, aimed at meeting the needs of the Quebec school districts. Collaba 1.0 was released in September 2002, nearly a year after it was announced. During the next few years, SYPECom continued active development of the platform and cumulated partnerships with numerous organizations.

Product line evolution

Originally, Collaba was designed as a web-only communication server. Its goal was to provide easy access from anywhere there is a web browser. As the user base got larger, Collaba evolved into a multi-protocol server, so that users can communicate and collaborate with more than just a web browser. Today, users can interact with Collaba using any web browser, mail client, calendaring application, news client, RSS reader, podcast client, FTP client, WebDAV client, contacts management application, PDAs, and more.

Until 2008, Collaba was available under four editions: Collaba Education Portal, Collaba Enterprise Server, Collaba Special Edition, and Collaba VL. Although all four products shared the same core technology, they each had different limitations on the list of features available, so that the cost of licenses could vary.

In February 2008 however, all four products were replaced with a single unified Collaba product which has no feature limitation and is available under a single pricing list.

In April 2009, perpetual licenses were added to the product line, targeting small customers that did not require the support options included in annual licenses. All new licenses still retained Collaba's full feature set, but were limited in the number of user accounts that could be created.

Versions

The first documented release of Collaba is version 1.0 on 2002-09-16. A total of 73 versions and sub-versions were released between that date and the Fall of 2004. When the 3.0 milestone was reached in October 2004, SYPECom altered its release process and started to publish larger releases less often, thereby helping customers keep up with the product's evolution. Collaba 4.0 was released on 2005-01-27 and Collaba 5.0 on 2006-05-18 (with sub-versions in-between).

Collaba 6.0 was released on 2007-08-16. This version was a significant step forward for the platform, as it completely reengineered its web portal interface and introduced many new collaboration tools, communication services and expansion capabilities.

Collaba 7.0 was released on 2008-02-07. In addition to presenting a completely rewritten Virtual File System and many more features and improvements, this version marked a shift in SYPECom's software licensing strategy. Collaba 7.0 was the first version to be completely unified under a single features list and pricing list.

Collaba 8.0 was released on 2009-05-03. This version added improvements to its web interface and modules, as well as providing a new server installer for MacOS X. Perpetual licenses were also made available at the same time. Version 8.1 was released in January 2010 with added interconnection support for third-party services.

Collaba 9.0 was released on 2010-04-14, making its Enterprise user interface the default one. Support for Mozilla SeaMonkey was also improved significantly.

Collaba 10.0 was released on 2011-04-11. This version introduced a significant change in the way server data had been stored and organized over the years. The server repository was completely re-organized so that customer-specific data would be concentrated into a single directory, while all other product-specific data would be stored in another. This change allowed for drag&drop server upgrades.

Awards

Collaba won the ICEM 2004 Grand Prize for best multimedia platform and excellence in multimedia technologies applied to the world of learning, awarded to SYPECom at the International Conference on Educational Multimedia held in Quebec City on March 14 to 17.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Features for end users

Features for server administrators

Features for developers

Technologies

Early history

Product line evolution

Versions

Awards

See also

External links