NUREMBERG, Germany, March 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Open-Xchange, the leading supplier of business-class email and groupware for cloud providers, announced today a partnership with Host Europe Group, a leader in domain name registration and web hosting in the U.K. and Germany, to bring free Open-Xchange webmail and Personal Information Management (PIM) to more than 1.4 million email accounts.
By the end of 2011, Host Europe Group will consolidate its existing webmail solutions such as Atmail, Roundcube and SquirrelMail by replacing them with AJAX-based Open-Xchange webmail, providing end users with the most powerful email service available today. At no additional charge, customers of the Host Europe Group will get modern, easy-to-use integrated email, calendar and contact management. In addition, customers will be able to upgrade easily and take advantage of more advanced groupware features and mobility support.
"Open-Xchange is the ideal partner for us to start offering Cloud applications as their software integrates perfectly into our existing hosting infrastructure. It enables our customers to upgrade to the free webmail service, and offers state-of-the-art communication and collaboration features at a very competitive price," said Thomas Vollrath, CEO of Host Europe Group. "After looking at other solutions, we found that Open-Xchange was clearly the market leader, as it was the only supplier that could make it easy for us to introduce new premium features to our customers, by utilizing their 'in-app' upsell concept."
"Communication and collaboration are leading the way for the adoption of Cloud applications within SOHOs (small office and home office) and SMEs (small- and medium-size businesses)," said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. "As email and shared webhosting become a commodity, communication services and business applications based on Open-Xchange are great opportunities to provide customers with value-added services."
Host Europe will use Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, the only groupware specifically designed to meet the needs of SaaS (Software as a Service) providers. Open-Xchange can be easily integrated into existing infrastructures without changing the existing email servers, including authentication, user management, system administration, provisioning and billing tools.
Open-Xchange integrates email, calendar, contact and task management with advanced groupware features such as information management and document sharing, along with cutting-edge social network integration. By adding the Open-Xchange mobility capabilities, users can receive push email and synchronization of contacts, calendar and other information from their Open-Xchange account to their smartphones, including iPhone, Android-based devices, Nokia, Windows Mobile and others.
In addition, Open-Xchange's unique "Social OX" features give users the ability to consolidate any kind of existing webmail accounts — for example from Google and Yahoo — into a folder in Open-Xchange so they can be managed more easily. Plus, contact details from social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Xing can be added automatically to the Open-Xchange address book — giving users easy access to the latest contact information within their personal network. Also, users can now integrate messaging feeds from Twitter and Facebook and merge their calendar and address books from Google into Open-Xchange, as well.
About Host Europe Group
Founded in 1997, Host Europe Group is the largest privately-owned hosting group in Europe. It offers its 800,000 customers domain registration, mass hosting, customised, managed and cloud hosting, and has an emerging software-as-a-service offering. As the biggest domain registrar in the U.K., and largest virtualization provider in Europe, Host Europe Group is the ideal choice for consumers and businesses alike, who seek a high quality of service, with first-rate performance and at a competitive price. With its leading brands: 123-reg, Webfusion, Host Europe, dynamic-net AG, and Donhost, the Group has a strong market presence in the U.K., U.S., Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain.
About Open-Xchange
Open-Xchange is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source email and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions and government authorities. The company provides on-premises versions called Open-Xchange Server Edition and Open-Xchange Advanced Server Edition, along with Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, which enables web hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS).
Open-Xchange AG is a privately-held company headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany with offices in Olpe, Germany and Tarrytown, N.Y. For more information, please visit www.open-xchange.com.