Solution offers OEM and viaVerio Partners to expand their service offerings and increase customer traction.

Verio Inc., a provider of online business solutions to SMBs worldwide, including web hosting, application hosting and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), yesterday announced the availability of VMware Zimbra, an open source email, calendar and collaboration platform for OEM and viaVerio partners.

The company says that VMware Zimbra expands its portfolio of hosted email solutions for its OEM partners, and offers an innovative messaging and collaboration platform that unifies calendaring, document collaboration and more. The company and VMware also provide branding options for partners to 'private label' or customize their solutions through the use of Zimbra Zimlets, which are tools for integrating the VMware Zimbra Collaboration Suite with third-party web applications.

It avers that VMware Zimbra delivers all the features and functionality of a business-class email system - whether packaged with a hosting plan or purchased as a stand-alone solution. Key features include:

• Industry leading email and collaboration features, such as calendaring, file sharing, contact management, and more
• Powerful and easy-to-use interface to help users to improve productivity and collaborate with other colleagues
• Automatic synchronization so that changes made via one interface (desktop client, webmail or mobile device) are automatically updated in all interfaces
• One central location so users can manage multiple email accounts, contact lists and calendars
• Built in briefcase that can help expedite the time it takes to upload and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations
  

"The VMware Zimbra extensive feature set, coupled with its branding options, makes it an excellent platform for our partners, whose customers require business-class email functionality," said Steve Renda, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Verio. "In addition to providing a world class messaging and collaboration platform, VMware Zimbra gives us the opportunity to work collaboratively with our partners to create custom applications for additional functionality, while at the same time helping them differentiate their service offerings and increase customer traction."

"The availability of VMware Zimbra for Verio offers IT organizations a flexible collaboration platform that can enable greater work force productivity," said John Robb, Senior Director of Product Management at VMware. "With its rich email feature set, extensive ecosystem, and broad range of partner programs, VMware Zimbra offers new business opportunities for partners to meet the growing demands of small and medium size businesses."