Kolab1 - Free Software Groupware

Project duration: October 2002 - July 2003

The Kolab1 groupware solution originates from contact of the german Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI). (The contract itself is called Kroupware).

Goal of the contract was a groupware solution for the special needs of the BSI. The three companies Intevation (project management), Erfrakon (Kolab Server as well as technical concept) and Klarälvdalens Datakonsult (KDE Kolab Client) solved this with Free Software within 10 month and successfully concluded the task in July 2003. The project management team was formed by two persons: the lead was with Bernhard Reiter, Jan-Oliver Wagner was his fall-back. The development team consisted out of 9 people.

Kolab provides the usual asynchonous groupware functionality for E-Mail, group calender, notes and tasks. The server is designed for high scalability and exclusively uses open standards. The KDE Kolab client combines the well-known KDE components for E-Mail, calendar, addressbook and PDA synchronisation.

For this project a close contact with the KDE developer community, specifically the KDE-PIM (Personal Information Management) group, has been established. To additionally support the upstream flow of Kroupware developments into the KDE main development a meeting of the KDE-PIM group was organized at the Intevation premises in Osnabrück. This meeting took plave in January 2003.

Continuity after project conclusion (as of spring 2004): The developer community around Kolab is growing and activ. Among other things, a first version of a Web-Client for the Kolab Server is available (developed by CodeFusion). The KDE-PIM Group met in January 2004 again at Intevation premises in Osnabrück to plan the next release which also will contain Kontact as a fully integrated KDE Kolab client.