Software to help companies communicate and share
information more efficiently will feature strongly at this year's
CeBit technology conference.
Groupware and collaboration technology encompasses e-mail,
instant messaging, voice over IP (VoIP), telephone and
videoconferencing, and document sharing is set to be a hot issue
for many corporate users.
Richard Edwards, research analyst at Butler Group, said software
to search and mine information generated from such technologies
would attract attention.
"E-mail is still the primary collaboration tool. The e-mail
inbox has become the new C-drive, and an increasing number of
search and retrieval tools will target this area. On the server
side, I think we will see an increase in e-mail appliances and
hosted solutions, as organisations - especially in the SME space -
struggle to keep e-mail under control."
CeBit will showcase more instant messaging, VoIP and
videoconferencing technology, such as Skype phones and video
cameras.
"Skype is introducing teleconferencing and videoconferencing to
a new audience," said Edwards. "In the past these technologies were
reserved for senior managers and required expensive infrastructure.
Now they can be delivered straight to the desktop in a collection
of easy-to-use tools."
Edwards added that specialised IMgateways and firewalls might
also make an appearance at CeBit this year, as organisations sought
interoperability between competing technologies.