search www.xcnetwork.com
Simplifying group collaboration...
 

XC Connect - Product Profile

The Power to Manage, Create, Modify, and Share

XC Connect is a robust communication solution that enables users to create, modify, and share personal and public Calendar, Contact, and Task items between and across any combination of:
 
  • Microsoft Outlook,
  • Microsoft Entourage,
  • OSX Address Book,
  • OSX iCal,
  • Novell Evolution,
  • any Web Browser.
 

XC Connect is not an email server. It does not touch or affect your current email implementation. This allows you the flexibility of maintaining your current email server/system in place, or choosing one that best suits your needs exclusive of your data collaboration requirements.

The XC Connect solution consists of two components:
  1. The XCN Server – is installed on a computer accessible by your users (via an IP address or host name) and manages users, permissions, and any shared data. Xchange Network also offers XC Connect as a “Hosted” solution in the form of XC Home/Small Office.

  2. The XC Connect Client - is installed on each user’s computer and handles the data transfer between the desktop application (e.g., Outlook or Entourage) and the XCN Server.

Who is it for?

Xchange Network's solutions are for companies and organizations that need to communicate efficiently and effectively:
  • Individuals and/or teams that need to share schedules to facilitate the effective use of their time and avoid scheduling conflicts.
  • Organizations that have mixed-desktop environments and have the need to share Contacts, Calendars, or Tasks.
  • Groups that need to synchronize Task activities towards the project goals.
  • Teams that are scattered across the globe, but that still need to share Calendars, Contacts and Task information without being tied to a common email server.
  • For "virtual" office environments, with the flexibility of unique email domains.
  • Organizations that need the flexibility of hosting the XCN Server on either a Windows, OS X, or Linux computer.

How it Works:

XC Connect consists of two components, the XCN Server and XC Connect Client. These two components work hand-in-hand to provide you with a flexible and reliable method of sharing data between and across mixed-desktop environments.

XCN Server: The XCN Server manages users, their permissions, and any shared data. It determines, based on the permissions that you specify, which user should have access to what data in terms of visibility and access (read, write, delete privileges).

Administration of the XCN Server is accomplished via any web browser, allowing the system administrator access to the XCN Server from virtually anywhere. Plus, XCN Server administration is simple and straightforward, enabling users with modest computer skills the ability to manage the solution.

XC Connect Client: The XC Connect Client, installed on each user’s computer, handles the data transfer between each users’ Outlook, Entourage, iCAL and Address Book, and/or Evolution application and the XCN Server. The XC Connect client integrates seamlessly with desktop applications without any effort on the part of the user. A “web-interface” is also available. There is no limit to the number of ‘client’ connections that the XCN Server will support.

Security: All data maintained on the XCN Server is encrypted, as is the transmission between the XCN Server and the XC Connect Client. Support for LDAP is also included.

Synchronizing: XC Connect will only sync data that is either new or has been modified. This greatly reduces network bandwidth load and maximizes the performance of your system. Naturally, this means that the first sync to the XCN Server will probably be the longest, as users sync up current folder data.

Sync interval: You can specify the sync interval to the server, from as short as every minute to every 99999 minutes, or select your syncs to occur on a manual basis.

Offline access: All user data is maintained locally on each user’s computer as well as on the XCN Server. This means that if you disconnect from the network, you maintain all your data up to the point of your last sync to the XCN Server. Changes made to shared data, whether made by other users or by yourself, are updated between your computer and the XCN Server the next time you connect to the network and synchronize.

Portability of Clients: The XC Connect Client may be installed on as many computers as you wish without charge. Our pricing model is based upon the number of “named users”, not the number of computers it is installed on. This means that you can install the XC Connect Client on multiple computers, allowing you to maintain your folders “in-sync” regardless of location, i.e. your office, your home office, or a remote location.

Shared folders: XC Connect allows you to share your Personal Calendar, Contact, and/or Task folders, plus provides the ability to create and share new folders with specified users. You may select with whom to share and what level of access that you would like them to have (i.e., read-only, read/write, or read/write/delete). You may also create additional Calendar, Contact, and or Task folders (“Categories” in Entourage) with specific visibility to, and access by, selected users.

XC Connect System Requirements:

The XCN Server may be installed on a computer that you designate as the XC Connect “server”. Obviously, if your preference is towards the “Hosted” solution, XC Home/Small Office, then you don't need to to worry about this particular XCN Server section.

Minimum system requirements for the installation of the XCN Server are:

Hardware:
  • 500 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU (the higher the MHz, the quicker it will process requests)
  • 512 MB of RAM
  • 120 MB of free disk space for installation. Budget 20MB of space per user for shared data cache.

Operating System:
We offer installation packages for the operating systems noted below. Note that the XCN Server may be installed on any computer that supports the Java Virtual Machine.
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP / 2003, Vista
  • Linux (any distribution: Redhat, Debian, Mandrake, etc.), and
  • Mac OS X 10.2 and up (yes, including Leopard)
* It is not necessary that the computer be configured as a “Server”.

Ports used: XC Connect utilizes ports 80 and 10001.

You may install the XCN Server on an existing Windows Server; If you have IIS running on that computer, a simple integration process with IIS is necessary. We provide you with all the details.

The XC Connect Client may be installed on any computer or laptop. If necessary, the XC Connect Client and XCN Server may be installed on the same computer. Minimum system requirements:

Hardware:
  • 500 MHZ or better, Pentium-compatible CPU
  • 256MB of RAM
  • 6MB of free disk space


  • XC Connect Clients (also called ‘connectors’) are available for:
    • Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 (Windows 2000, XP, Vista)
    • Entourage X, 2004, 2008 (OSX 10.2 forward, including 10.5 Leopard)
    • OSX Address Book/iCal (OSX 10.2 forward, including 10.5 Leopard)
    • Evolution 1.4 forward (Linux, any distribution, i.e. Redhat, Debian, Mandrake, etc.)

Simple System Administration:

Users and Folders are administrated through the XCN Administrative screen, which is accessible via a browser screen from any computer with access to the IP Address of the XC Server. Users and Group Folders may be created and user permissions to the folders granted. Users may be granted different permissions to different folders, providing tremendous flexibility and utility.

 
 



The Administration screen is accessible by both system administrators and users. Levels of access are defined by the users “role” (administrator, member, or guest). The Administration screen provides access and control for:

  • User Access Control List: providing information regarding what users have what privileges to which folders.
  • License information: number of available user licenses, software version, license updates.
  • LDAP (Active Directory) setup: allowing the XCN Server to communicate with your LDAP Server or Active Directory.
  • Connector access: ability to access for user installation, or to update connectors.
  • Security Preferences: Options for user cookies settings and file encryption.
  • User management.
  • Shared Folder management.
  • Personal Folder management (the sharing of a users “personal” calendar, contact, & tasks).
  • Data Recovery (in the event that bad things happen, the XCN Server maintains a 30 day cache of “deleted” items).

Pricing:

XC Connect pricing is based on the number of ‘named users’. The licensing model of XC Connect is different from many groupware offerings – only users that are entered as users in the XCN Server Administration screen are counted. A virtual user function allows the administrator to create role-based accounts and a virtual domain function allows multiple domains to be supported on one server.


XC Small/Medium Business and XC Enterprise:
Licenses for XC Small/Medium Business and XC Enterprise are issued as Permanent Licenses.

10 users or less:$79.00 per user (USD)
20 users:$70.00 per user
40 users:$57.00 per user
50 users:$50.00 per user
100 users:$40.00 per user
500 users:$30.00 per user
1,000 users:$20.00 per user

  • Pricing for XC Connect is per ‘named user’, not the number of computers.
  • There is no separate fee for the “software server” (the XCN Server)
  • There is no unique pricing between Entourage, Address Book/iCal, Outlook, or Evolution users.
  • There is no cost for the connectors themselves.
  • Connectors may be installed on as many computers as the users wishes.
  • Maintenance, Support, and Upgrades (MS&U) is provided at no cost to you for 12 months
There is a “price calculator” HERE


XC Home/Small Office:
Licenses for XC Home/Small Office (Hosted) are issued as Subscription Licenses.

Monthly:$9.99 (USD) per user, per month
Semi-Annual:$8.99 per user, per month. Paid as a 6 month contract
Annual:$6.99 per user, per month. Paid as an annual contract

For specific pricing or questions, please contact us at sales@xcnetwork.com, or call 734-913-5810.


Thank you for your interest!

Ready to Try it Now?
  Click here for Free Trial!

Ready to Purchase?
  Click here to purchase!

home    products    buy now    try now    xc bridge    partners    support    contact    about us    knowledge base    site map    privacy
Copyright© 2002-2008 Xchange Network LLC. All rights reserved.