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Overview
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This evaluation guide provides a framework for reviewing and evaluating Netscape Calendar Server. It includes key criteria that customers have indicated are important and describes how Calendar Server meets those criteria. It also clearly shows how Calendar Server compares to other products. Introduction Today's team-based organizations require tight personnel coordination and increased interaction between people throughout the enterprise. As a result, organizations are looking for better, faster ways to coordinate their people, teams, and resources. Netscape Communicator with Enterprise Calendaring and Calendar Server work together to provide a powerful, open standards-based client-server calendaring and scheduling solution for the entire enterprise. Netscape Calendar Server makes it easy for people to manage their most precious resource - time. Market Trends And Conditions A plethora of vendors and products has made it difficult to define enterprise calendaring and scheduling. Personal information managers (PIMs), day-timers or planners, group scheduling, and contact management software often have similar functionality, effectively blurring product categories. Products in the PIM category include NetManager's ECCO, Symantec's ACT, and Starfish Software's Sidekick. Many PIM applications have added group-scheduling functionality to allow for coordination with others using the same product. But because they focus on individual organization and personal planning, PIMs have traditionally not scaled well to support enterprise-level calendaring and scheduling. LAN-based calendaring and scheduling systems often employ file-sharing mechanisms. Typically these products scale well to several dozen users but fail to support thousands. In addition, LAN-based calendaring and scheduling systems often support only single-server implementations, and are thus limited to the maximum number of users a single server can support. Enterprise scheduling programs provide the ability to support thousands of users on a single server, as well as on multiple servers. Unfortunately, many of these systems' calendaring and scheduling functions are "bolted on" to a proprietary messaging or replication architecture. These monolithic applications suffer from limitations imposed by architectures designed for store-and-forward messaging and data replication. For example, due to redundant and inefficient data storage, calendaring decisions are not based on the most up-to-date information. In addition, proprietary solutions may not scale as well as native calendaring and scheduling systems. Internet PIMs make up a new product category that requires the definition of open calendaring and scheduling standards. Although some standards exist today, all Internet calendaring standards have not yet been defined. Once that's done, products may be developed to fit into the Internet PIM category. The following table illustrates one way to segment the products in the calendaring and scheduling marketplace:
The calendaring and scheduling marketplace has several overlapping product categories, so it's important for system administrators to understand their organization's specific requirements when considering products. Calendar Server was designed and built with the following goals in mind:
Why Haven't Enterprise Calendaring and Scheduling Been More Successful? Enterprise calendaring and scheduling have not enjoyed the same success as other groupware technologies such as electronic messaging, discussion group, and collaboration products. Customers give the following reasons why they haven't widely deployed calendaring and scheduling products in their organizations. People choose calendars based on personal preference. Paper calendars come in all sizes, colors, and page layouts. They may be three-ring, six-ring, or spiral-bound. Electronic calendars or organizers come in various sizes, some with pens or keyboards. Software calendaring programs also vary widely because manufacturers attempt to appeal to users' personal preferences and work styles. The absence of calendaring and scheduling standards has meant that all users in a given organization need to use the same product, thus eliminating personal choice. Many users would rather choose their own products and remain disconnected from other users. Lack of open standards has impeded interoperability between products. Many personal calendars cannot interoperate with other products and users of those products. All paper and most electronic calendars have been islands of information that cannot be reconciled without redundant data entry. Few enterprise-scale calendaring and scheduling systems have been available. Most products simply do not scale well to the requirements of larger network environments because they generally do not support a large number of users, multiple servers, and other complexities. Even when multiple copies of products from the same vendor can be deployed without conflict, synchronization and other administration difficulties often make the solution impractical for the enterprise. Design Goals Based on customer feedback, Calendar Server was designed with the following goals in mind: Provide the premier enterprise calendaring and scheduling solution. Netscape defines enterprise calendaring and scheduling as real-time scheduling for 100 to 100,000 users and associated resources. Enterprise calendaring and scheduling also requires powerful tools for ensuring easy administration and low cost of ownership. Calendar Server was designed to support companies of all sizes, from organizations with a few hundred users up to organizations with thousands of users. People use their calendars in very different ways. An enterprise calendaring and scheduling system should be easy to use and simple enough for even the most unsophisticated user to manage. In addition, it should support the way an organization works. Provide a robust, full-featured calendaring and scheduling product that satisfies varying end-user requirements. Netscape addressed the following needs:
Support open Internet protocols, including emerging calendaring and scheduling protocols. Through support for directory, messaging, and emerging calendaring standards, systems administrators are ensured that Calendar Server can integrate and interoperate with other applications. These standards include:
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