Casahl Technology Announces RA.GroupwareLink; New Product Provides Tools for Coexistence between Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange

Business Wire, Jan 26, 1998

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 1998--Casahl Technology, Inc., the leading provider of software for integrating groupware with corporate database systems, today announced a new product, RA.GroupwareLink.

Designed to meet the growing need for coexistence between Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange, RA.GroupwareLink enables companies to synchronize data across the two groupware platforms. In addition to its powerful, industrial-strength replication engine, RA.GroupwareLink includes tools for developers to convert forms and user mailboxes from one groupware product to another. An analysis tool also enables developers to obtain vital design statistics of Notes databases or Exchange/Outlook folders to help during the forms conversion process.

RA.GroupwareLink is a member of the Replic-Action family of products being offered by Casahl. Synchronization between Notes and Exchange takes advantage of the features and capabilities of Replic-Action, which include server-based, two-way replication with conflict detection, notification and resolution, as well as selective replication or field-level replication to filter data between each platform. RA.GroupwareLink leverages other Replic-Action strengths, such as load balancing, fault tolerance, performance monitoring, and remote administration. Actions and Data Transformations, two of Replic-Action's prominent features, are also provided in RA.GroupwareLink. Actions can be used to trigger workflow events in one groupware system based on data being replicated from the other system. Data Transformations provide a way to modify data during the replication process.

"Companies are wrestling with their groupware decisions," says David Waal, CEO of Gateway Group, a consulting company specializing in both Lotus and Microsoft products. "Should they scrap their investment in one groupware platform and retrain its users in favor of another one? What if two departments have separate business-critical applications in different groupware systems? Who wins and who loses? The answer we've all been waiting for is RA.GroupwareLink from Casahl. They have combined their industry-leading technology, their groupware and DBMS expertise, and their strong market and customer focus to produce what will surely become one of the most significant and elegant technology solutions in a long time."

"Replic-Action and specifically RA.GroupwareLink are very important products that will assist companies and system integrators in tackling the challenges of connecting different groupware products," says Dr. Harry Wong, President and CEO of Casahl. "RA.GroupwareLink also opens new doors for ISV's who have been traditionally aligned by Lotus or Microsoft channels. Now ISV's can create versions of their software in both groupware platforms, then with RA.GroupwareLink, their customers can deploy ISV solutions across their enterprise without being restricted by any particular groupware system."

Features of RA.GroupwareLink

RA.GroupwareLink provides many features and capabilities, including:

-- Two-way synchronization including new, modified and deleted

records

-- Automatic conflict detection, notification and resolution

-- Actions -- the ability to trigger events based on data being

replicated

-- Data Transformations -- the ability to modify data during

replication

-- Full rich text and response hierarchy support between Notes and

Exchange

-- Automatic scheduling of synchronization jobs

-- Wizard-based user interface used for creating and modifying jobs

-- Proven industrial-strength server technology that includes load

balancing, fault tolerance, performance monitoring, and remote

administration

-- Mailbox conversion tool

-- Form conversion tool

-- Database/folder analysis tool RA.GroupwareLink is scheduled for

release later this quarter.

Replic-Action Family of Products

RA.GroupwareLink is one of a family of products under the Replic-Action name. Within this family of products, customers can integrate their groupware applications with ERP systems such as SAP, or even synchronize between two different DBMS systems (e.g. Oracle to SQL Server). One product in the Replic-Action family, RA.Interchange, provides complimentary synchronization services between Microsoft Exchange servers. RA.Interchange enables companies to perform synchronization between Exchange servers belonging to different sites, and to perform selective form and/or field level replication. Replic-Action is the most popular data integration solution, used by over fifty percent of Fortune 500 companies.

Casahl Technology, Inc.

Casahl Technology, Inc. is headquartered in Danville, California and is a Lotus Premium Business Partner and a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. Founded in 1992, Casahl has been focused on the integration of groupware products. Its first product was licensed to Lotus as NotesSQL, an ODBC driver for Notes, which is still shipping with each copy of Notes. Replic-Action, Casahl's flagship product, began shipping to customers three years ago and quickly became the leader in the industry. Casahl has maintained this leadership. In mid-1997, Casahl began shipping a version of Replic-Action specifically for Microsoft Exchange users.