OX6:OXtender for Business Mobility Installation Guide

Revision as of 13:52, 6 July 2009 by Mheiland (talk | contribs) (Components)

OXtender for Business Mobility

Description

The OXtender for Business Mobility is an extension to the Open-Xchange Server enabling Exchange ActiveSync capabilities. ActiveSync is a widespread proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft which allows mobile devices to communicate with groupware servers or desktop computers. Client-side implementations of ActiveSync are available for Windows Mobile, Apple iPhone, Symbian, BlackBerry and Android devices. The protocol covers a very large amount of business smartphones and handheld computers. Since Open-Xchange is able to communicate through native ActiveSync, there are no third party clients required on compatible devices. Integration to the native applications of the specific device is more seamless than with any other synchronization technology. ActiveSync supports synchronization of E-Mail, appointments, contacts and tasks by polling, manual sync or push.

Components

With the OXtender for Business Mobility, Open-Xchange also introduces the Universal Synchronization Module (USM). This module provides a framework for synchronization protocols such as Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) or other services building on this foundation. USM acts as a layer between the Open-Xchange HTTP API and the synchronization protocol. It handles synchronization specific tasks like conflict management. The synchronization stack (USM) and protocol implementation (EAS) are shipped as OSGi bundles and run as a plug-in of an Open-Xchange instance.

Requirements

Since the OXtender for Business Mobility is a server plug-in based on the OSGi Framework it can be added to an existing Open-Xchange installation very easily. Open-Xchange Server 6.10 or later is required to operate this extension. The OXtender for Business Mobility uses the resources and services offered by the Open-Xchange server, no additional software or configuration is required.

Download

Installation

Configuration