Jive beefs up collaboration tools with SharePoint integration

Acquisition of Jotlet will add Web 2.0 features to calendaring technology

By John Fontana, Network World, 04/07/08

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Collaboration vendor Jive Software Monday added integration with Microsoft's SharePoint Server plus project management and social networking tools to the new version of its social computing platform.

The company also said it acquired Jotlet and will add its Web 2.0 calendaring technology to the Jive collaboration tools. (Compare collaboration products.) 

Clearspace 2.0 lets users find one another, share documents and collaborate. Jive, which released its first product in February 2007, is filling in gaps with an eye toward meeting internal collaboration needs that fall between basic tools and specialized platforms.

The highlight of 2.0 is integration with Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server 2007 to take advantage of searching and browsing features. Users can publish files to SharePoint from the Clearspace browser interface and also access documents.

"SharePoint comes up in 75% to 80% of the enterprise deals we are doing," says Dave Hersh, CEO of Jive.

Also in Clearspace 2.0, the profile feature has been upgraded to include more detail on each employee. And the software can be used to create a UI layer on top of the company organization chart, so profiles can be seen in context. Users can create mini-profiles on any person and see the latest content they have created, among other features.

Hersh, however, stresses that Jive is not trying to build a Facebook for the enterprise.

Clearspace 2.0 also includes a number of widgets that are used to customize the features of a workspace or profile.

The new project management features include calendars, tasks and milestones so users can track a job from beginning to end. Clearspace also has used the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol so users can securely share documents outside the firewall.

Clearspace 2.0, which competes with a similar platform from Lithium, is priced at $59 per year per user and includes an option for CPU-based pricing for extending the platform to external users. The software runs on both Linux and Windows.

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