Assured: The Isode Blog

Audit Database Installation

We introduced the Audit Database in R10.6 as part of our Messaging Solution (Internet and X.400).   Its initial functions are to support message tracking and anti-spam quarantine.    There is lots more coming.    The next set of features will be decent statistics, and we'll be providing lots of options, including graphing.   We'll send out some screenshots in a while.

The Audit Database is becoming a core part of our product set.   We chose to implement with standard components, and in particular Tomcat, Postgres, and JDBC.  A benefit of using these packages, is that customers will be able to share them with other applications.   We decided that shipping these componets as a part of our release would be a nuisance to customers who already have them for other purposes (as well as making our distribution a lot bigger).   Therefore, we've kept them separate.   

A consequence of this is that installation of this component needs additional external packages, which needs some basic configuration.   We've documented this, but many customers and evaluators have chosen not to look at this component, which is a pity. 

We think that including the packages with the Isode products woud be a mistake.  We're going to add some "quick start" documentation, to help get going with the Audit Database, and  also make pointers to this clear from the basic installation information.

Steve

Inbox/Outbox

At risk of turning this blog into one that seems to solely deal with our enthusiasm for Open Standards to deal with mobile messaging trends, this week saw Isode take a stand at the Inbox/Outbox exhibition in London.

Whilst we used the stand to promote all of Isode's products, our seminar talk 'Mobile Messaging: greater choice and lower costs through Open Standards' once again highlighted some of the features of M-Box, our IMAP message store due to be released shortly.

It was an appropriate approach to take, especially considering that in terms of stand space the entrance to the show was dominated by stands from O2 and Blackberry who had chosen to celebrate their partnership by using identical stands and running joint seminars.

We talk quite a lot about the advantages of Open Standards but those advantages are not just technical. From a marketing perspective I'm puzzled by the willingness of companies like O2 to cede control of their brand by diluting it with references to a proprietary partner - often a precondition of the partnership. It may work well in the short term whilst the proprietary technology is fashionable but if their image suffers in the future, even in an area totally unrelated to your collaboration with them, then you suffer as well.

Will