JMF Offers Groupware Based On Saloob's Software-as-a-Service Platform

June 3, 2008 - PRLog -- JMF, Japan's Leading Automated Hosting Hosting Company, announced today the release of a hosted, cost effective and feature rich email and collaboration service, targeted mainly to small and medium-sized business. The new service is based on Saloob's SaaS platform and Open-Xchange Hosting Edition.

The hosted collaboration solution called "Tsukaeru-Xchange" offers email, calendar, contacts, tasks and document sharing providing companies with all the tools needed to facilitate communication and efficient teamwork. Users improve their communication and teamwork with simple, intuitive tools and intelligent features, such as smart links between calendar appointments, task lists, contacts, documents, bookmarks and knowledge articles. Users get get access to their data using the AJAX-based web-client or Microsoft Outlook as client software.

JMF offers the new service to their existing hosting customers as well as to new customers. Tsukaeru-Xchange will be available from 1st June with an initial release of advanced personal information management (PIM) provided free to existing JMF customers using Parallels Plesk Control Panel with upgrade options to Groupware priced for 5, 10, 20, 50, 100+ user packages.

The Tsukaeru-Xchange service is available to all users via Saloob's SaaS Platform, branded as "ZaBridge", and allows JMF customers to seemlessly manage their accounts from Parallels Business Automation, Parallels Plesk Control Panel and ZaBridge. Based on Parallels "OpenFusion" principals and API's, Saloob has provided JMF with a sturdy, extensible platform upon which they can offer highly scalable value-added services.

"We see growing demand for new SaaS applications from millions of SMEs that can improve their global competitiveness by utilizing collaborative solutions that provide enterprise-class capabilities to small and medium sized businesses and with ever increasing focus on data protection and privacy, more people are moving to using web-based email services as opposed to downloading emails to their local computer. Webmail has long been limited to simple email viewing services, but now Tsukaeru-Xchange has taken webmail to a new level with hosted Groupware," said  Jason Frisch, CEO of JMF. "We are very excited to partner with Saloob as they did a great job integrating Open-Xchange Hosting Edition with Parallels' Automation solutions.”

"This is a great time for Saloob and JMF as we have a long history with Parallels software and also a strong relationship with JMF where we understand well the needs of growing service providers like them,” said Matthew Edmond, CEO and Technical Architect Saloob, Inc. “We look forward to working more with JMF to further expand their SaaS offerings with our other value-added solutions."

"The Tsukaeru-Xchange service will help expand Open-Xchange functionality into the Japanese market -- giving customers the unique blend of advanced business-class email, calendaring and collaboration at affordable rates,” said Frank Hoberg, Founder and Executive Vice President Sales of Open-Xchange Inc. "Open-Xchange has a completely open API that allows it to be immediately implemented alongside existing systems and infrastructure, allowing providers to release new, high-grade up-sell services to their current customer base in parallel with existing services."

Based on available technology and Open-Xchange, Saloob has glued together PBA, Plesk and Open-Xchange into a seemless, single-sign-on environment that allows JMF to

Offer groupware subscriptions from PBA to existing customers
Synchronise Plesk servers for two-way data updates
Allow very simple groupware account management based on Plesk users
Migrate users' calanders and PIM data from other systems

Saloob built ZaBridge to be extensible so that JMF can add on other value-added services using multiple billing and subscription engines. Furthermore, Saloob enabled JMF's ZaBridge to allow any Plesk owner to register with them by providing a customised Plesk Module.

The Open-Xchange Hosting Edition is the only groupware solution designed specifically to meet the needs of hosting providers. It has been architected to integrate into a hosting provider’s existing infrastructure such as authentication, provisioning, billing, and email storage rather than require that these systems be replaced. Open-Xchange Hosting Edition is built on enterprise proven open source technologies, such as Apache and MySQL, and is able to scale up to millions of users.

Open-Xchange Hosting Edition offers multi-tenant and multi-domain capabilities, enabling webhosters to serve hundreds of thousand clients in a virtual server environment. This ensures a maximum level of service and customer satisfaction, while making best use of existing hardware resources. Open-Xchange Hosting Edition offers the necessary services and interfaces to integrate into automated administration, deployment and monitoring tools, ensuring 24/7 uptime 365 days a year.

For more information about the Saloob and Open-Xchange partnership, please visit http://www.open-exchange.jp

For more information about JMF Services, please visit http://www.tsukaeru.net/contact/?p=97

About Saloob
Saloob provides solutions and services for small, medium and large enterprises and is largely focused on the I.T. sector and any related businesses and opportunities. Using the latest technology and being able to move quickly, Saloob is rapidly building itself into a major provider for the Japan market. For more information about Saloob, please visit http://www.saloob.com

About OpenXchange
Open-Xchange Inc. is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source email and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions, and government authorities. Open-Xchange Hosting Edition enables web-hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). Internet service providers (ISPs), telcos and hosting providers, led by 1&1 Internet, deliver advanced email and groupware features through Open-Xchange Hosting Edition to millions of users. Open-Xchange Inc. is a privately-held company headquartered in Tarrytown, N.Y., with research, development, and operations in Olpe and Nuremberg, Germany. For more information, please visit www.open-xchange.com.

About JMF
JMF is Japan's leading automated hosting service provider offering VPS, Shared and Dedicated services on-demand and now offering customers richer value on top with SaaS services.

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Saloob provides solutions and services for small, medium and large enterprises and is largely focused on the I.T. sector and any related businesses and opportunities. Using the latest technology and being able to move quickly, Saloob is rapidly building itself into a major provider for the Japan market. For more information about Saloob, please visit http://www.saloob.com

Website: www.saloob.com