[February 22, 2007]

Colligo Announces Version 2.0 of SharePoint

By David Sims

TMCnet Contributing Editor

Vancouver-based Colligo Networks Inc., a vendor of offline collaboration products for mobile users, has announced the release of Version 2.0 of the Colligo for SharePoint product family that supports the 2007 Microsoft (News - Alert) Office System and Windows VistaT.

Company officials say organizations can use it to "extend the reach of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" to users who need access both online and offline -- "letting these businesses increase the adoption and utility of SharePoint with their workforce."

The Colligo for SharePoint product family consists of Colligo Reader for SharePoint and Colligo Contributor for SharePoint. The Reader provides offline read access to SharePoint sites and is free for individual users. Contributor is designed for businesses, and adds Microsoft Outlook integration, 2-way synchronization, and advanced security and deployment options.

Barry Jinks, President & CEO of Colligo Networks, said version 2.0 "incorporates feedback from users and we believe it delivers a significant productivity advantage for mobile professionals such as sales people, consultants, managers, and project teams in a variety of industries."

Late last November the company announced plans to release Version 2.0, promising at the time support for the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Windows Vista, and that it would let users of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 "easily synchronize online content, including document libraries, lists, metadata, and views, to their laptops for viewing and editing when working offline."

Tony Rizzo, Sector Head, Mobile Software, with The 451 Group, a technology industry analyst company, has written recently "as SharePoint 2007 builds on its customer base, Colligo is going along for the ride -- its services are a true addition to the SharePoint platform."

In addition to compatibility with the 2007 (and 2003) Microsoft Office System, probably the most significant upgrade the product has is the integration with Microsoft Office Outlook. Users can now drag-and-drop e-mails, attachments, events, and contacts directly into SharePoint document libraries whether they are working online or offline. E (News - Alert)-mail message fields, such as "To," "From" and "Subject" are automatically mapped into metadata columns.

Other upgrades in Version 2.0 include a new user interface that looks and feels like the online version of SharePoint 2007 (including breadcrumbs navigation), and one allowing documents that have been synced to user PCs to be located instantly through the new integration with Windows Desktop Search (if installed).

Other new configuration options enable IT managers to deploy and configure Colligo Contributor onto user laptops.

Designed to deliver a complete offline product, Colligo for SharePoint is the easiest product family to deploy, learn, and use. Colligo Reader and Colligo Contributor are lightweight client-only applications (under 5MB) and require no server modifications.

Designed for individual users, the free Colligo Reader allows users to synchronize SharePoint sites to their laptops, providing read-only access to document libraries, InfoPath forms, custom metadata and views, and both standard and custom lists.

Colligo Contributor is available now in single lot quantities for $125 from the Colligo online store. The free Colligo Reader and a 30-day trial of Colligo Contributor are available at www.colligo.com.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.

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