If you’d like to take Zimbra for a test drive, check out Wyatt’s article first.

DataSync isn’t just an open source software company, we’re an open source business. Contribution and participation in the community is part of our DNA. The people behind DataSync spend a lot of time out in the community posting on forums, submitting bug reports and contributing code. It’s encouraged, and it’s great to see that our team is stepping it up.

Some of the key people driving DataSync have recently launched their own view of the world:

• Wyatt Walter (Senior Network Administrator) - Whatan00b.com network administration. This blog is focused on trends in linux servers, administration tools (such as WebMin), and best practices for administering SugarCRM, Zimbra, and other open source application.
• Dustin Schnabel (VP - Operations) - Whatan00b.com usability. Dustin’s blog is focused on something most open source people don’t - usability. Dustin is an avid Apple user and is passionate about creating usable, scalable open technology
• Mike Vetter (CEO) - SiliconGrassland.com - Mike’s new blog is focused on business, technology, and life in the prairie. Mike’s blog topics range from new trends in open source to business and economic issues that effect the technology sector.

Others in DataSync will be launching personal websites in the next few months. We’re excited to get out there, share our experiences, and get your feedback.

DataSync hosts and implements SugarCRM and Alfresco, and has plans to add more applications to our software platform, DataSync Suite.

The Zimgar extension is a part of the release of DataSync Suite 0.5, which includes a significant architecture overhaul. The upcoming version of DataSync Suite includes the first revision of our core services module, and improvements to the portal interface. For more information on DataSync Suite, check out the product and community sections of our website.

DataSync Suite is based on Web 2.0 open source technology and heavily utilizes Zope 3 for its application framework. DataSync has recently released an aggressive development roadmap for the continued growth of their flagship product.

“We are committed to developing a robust, flexible web-based open source suite that allows any business to take advantage of open software” says Mike Vetter, founder and CEO of DataSync.

DataSync Suite is available for download or on DataSync’s acclaimed on-demand hosting architecture. DataSync expects the production release of DataSync Suite 0.5 by the end of July.

About DataSync

DataSync is the company behind DataSync Suite, a popular open source integration platform. DataSync Suite delivers best of breed open source software as a single web-based platform. DataSync Suite includes a single-signon portal, a core services component for efficient data syncronization and feature addons, and a robust administration console for users and system administrators. DataSync continues to develop application connectors for popular open source applications like Zimbra, SugarCRM, Alfresco, and Joomla. DataSync plans to release the full 1.0 package in early 2009.

For more information call 605-275-4100, email info@datasyncsuite.com, or visit http://datasyncsuite.com.

The upcoming version of DataSync Suite includes a number of upgrades and features:

• Improved portal interface
• SugarCRM/Zimbra integration (email archiving)
• Support for Zimbra 5.0.7
• Significant architecture upgrades
• Zope application server
• Improved administration tools
• Updated documentation

The overall push of this release is to improve the core architecture. Production release on DataSync On-Demand is scheduled for August 2008.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the DataSync Suite community, sign up for our email list to recieve product updates.

“Open source leads to better software, better through community innovation and hardening. And open source affords better long-term investment protection for both SaaS and “on premises” solutions. While SaaS allows organizations to ramp up new software with minimal investment, open source means they could always bring it in house later or move to an alternative provider (or at least have the negotiating leverage for doing the same).”

DataSync already delivers on-demand Zimbra solutions to top-tier clients around the globe. We’re unique in the fact that we’re delivering multiple applications on-demand, and integrating them into a single unified application - DataSync Suite. The next version of our product is scheduled for release later this month, and we’re excited to continue to contribute to the open source ecosystem.

For those of you who don’t know, most of us at DataSync run Mac hardware. Our developers run Linux because of the depth of the tools they use, but the rest of us mere mortals stick to Macs. Because we develop web-based applications, we’re platform independent. Apple has done a great job creating a hardware/software ecosystem that just works. Security has been solid, tech support is responsive, and we just like the platform. No viruses, software that works, and they just plain look cool.

Another great fact is that Zimbra has a great iSync connector that sucks all your data right onto your Mac. Because we support this feature, we get a lot of other Mac users on our Zimbra hosting offering. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll love Zimbra.

Overall we’re excited to see the Mac platform continue to progress. We’re also big Linux desktop fans, and we’re hoping that Gnome and KDE continue to make inroads on the corporate and personal desktop. Both options provide a great user experience without all the gotchas of Vista.

“By 2012, more than 90 percent of enterprises will use open source either directly or as embedded components. The Gartner team believes vendors will use open source code synergistically but direct their primary engineering efforts on what is described as “true value-added features and functionality above the ‘commoditized’ layer of open source software.”

This is closely in line with what we’re doing at DataSync. Open source itself can be difficult and expensive for traditional IT departments to support. However packaging open source into streamlined SaaS environments just makes sense. It eliminates the variables associated with deploying open source on site, and allows just about anyone to take advantage of open source. We’re finding that although open source is great, it needs to be delivered smoothly to be an effective cost advantage:

“By 2012, software as a service (SaaS) will surpass open source as the IT cost-cutting method of choice. Although Gartner believes both open source and SaaS are priced by subscription and low profit margins, SaaS is better positioned because it reduces the requirement for IT technical skills, as opposed to open source solutions, which tend to increase those very same requirements.”

At DataSync, we’ve been drinking the same coolaid. Don’t get me wrong, open source is the best way to develop software. We live and breathe it, heck we’ve got our own open source project. But delivering open source software as a smooth, robust, hosted service just makes sense for everyone. It allows any organization to take advantage of the cost-cutting nature of open software, yet doesn’t require a brainiac support staff to keep the whole system humming along smoothly.

So we’re happy that open source and SaaS are getting married. We’re already RSVP’d for the wedding and reception.