Enterprise Collaboration Tools: Page 2 of 14

Some platforms, like Entopia Quantum and SiteScape Forum, edit documents online from within browsers. This takes even more horsepower. Most products stream documents to users through the browser and let the browser handle them according to MIME type. It's also possible to edit documents online through WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning). Either way, using a local client to view and edit documents in their native format off-loads processing from the server. But server processes still keep resources busy.

The systems tested require user training. Quantum, Hummingbird Enterprise Collaboration, Microsoft SharePoint Services and Forum are easy to navigate. Interwoven Worksite MP, Open Text Livelink, Stellent Universal Content Manager and Vignette Business Collaboration Server (VBCS) are more complex.

All the vendors had a difficult time calling a duck a duck. VBCS refers to its system as Group Memory and to workspaces as communities. Hummingbird also uses communities. Interwoven works with realms and facilities, while Entopia builds a Q-File. Once we got a handle on the vocabulary, we saw that each vendor provides check-in/checkout features with versioning control. And all but Microsoft include a tool for workflow.

These systems won't be favorites among your administrators. Although each vendor provides tools to monitor, stop and start processes with standard reports and enhanced logging facilities, none but Microsoft offers a utility to check the growth of workspaces. SharePoint uses SQL Server for document content, server settings and metadata. Plan on running a server-side antivirus utility--no vendor addresses viruses and malicious code.