AppSuite:Qwant POC FAQ

Qwant and Open-Xchange Proof of Concept

In General

On Tuesday 13th December, we were happy to announce that we are partnering with Qwant to develop a proof of concept (POC) for an online service offering a privacy oriented email, communication and collaboration platform with integrated search. The purpose of this POC is to gauge the potential for a consumer offering combining all the features of OX App Suite, together with the power and functionality of the Qwant search engine platform.

Qwant Proof of Concept FAQ

Why is Open-Xchange partnering with Qwant?

We are partnering with Qwant to develop a proof of concept (POC) for an online service offering a privacy oriented email, communication and collaboration platform with integrated search.

What is the purpose of the partnership between Qwant and Open-Xchange?

The purpose of this POC is to assess the potential for a consumer offering combining all the features of OX App Suite, together with the power and functionality of the Qwant search engine platform. We are using an Ad supported business model and working with Qwant to define a more user-centric approach to advertising which allows the user as much control as possible of what ads are delivered and how they are presented.

Why is this so important to Open-Xchange?

The release of ox.io is a crucial step for us in our efforts to make our products and services as useful and relevant as possible to our customer and their users. With ox.io we will gain invaluable, direct exposure to end-users, and it is the perfect sandbox for us to acquire market insight from OX App Suite users first hand.

Is OX selling directly to consumers in competition to customers and partners now?

No. We are doing this so we can improve the products and services we provide. Based on the results of the POC we will be able to provide customers with even better products and services, with a more competitive feature set, better targeted to the needs and expectations of their consumer audience. The service is run by our partner Heinlein Support / Mailbox.org.

But the service being offered in this POC is free. Won’t this mean losing customers?

We don’t expect this to be the case. At the moment, this POC is an invitation only closed beta and the total number of users will be limited to a maximum of 9k. We may release this into a continuous service, but we are also considering the options for migrating users off the system onto customers’ offerings when the POC is complete. This migration could possibly be combined with a joint OX/customer promotion to encourage users onto customer systems.

How will the Qwant POC impact the roadmap?

The feedback we get from the POC will allow us to prioritize our product and features roadmap more effectively. By allocating developer resources accordingly, our applications will become more accessible and appealing, and we can focus on identifying which parts of our software need particular attention.