Collanos Blog

At CeBIT 2009, Collanos and Translumina Networks will be launching LumiMagic, which is a cost-effective Linux box combining the functions of a VoIP telephone switchboard, network router, and WLAN access point. When integrated into a Collanos collaboration network, it offers companies and their partners a comprehensive communications and collaboration platform. The latest versions of Collanos Workplace and Collanos Phone will also be on display. Making its first appearance at the CeBIT (Booth A56/Hall 13) as part of the “Triple Play & more” consortium, Collanos will be exhibiting its software for electronic team collaboration among multiple organizations.

Collanos and Translumina Networks launch the LumiMagic telephone switchboard for SMBs

LumiMagic epitomizes the SMB (small and medium-sized businesses) telephone switchboard of the future. Oriented to the needs of SMBs, the compact, cost-effective Linux box combines the services of a VoIP telephone switchboard, network router, and wireless LAN access point in a single package. The innovative integration of the telephone switchboard into a Collanos collaboration network provides a company’s employees with the most direct communication paths and comprehensive teamwork support – all at low cost and regardless of their individual locations.

Every employee and every Collanos user at a supplier, partner, or customer location can be integrated into the company’s communications and collaboration network. Employees can thus be reached via their company phone number, and when it comes to their collaborative work with others within or outside the company, they can take advantage of functions geared toward team information sharing, instant messaging, telephone conferences, and project management. In doing so, telephony as well as Internet-based collaboration with every other employee and Collanos user worldwide is free of charge. Phone connections to the public telephone network are very inexpensive thanks to the typical low-cost VoIP telephone rates.

New Collanos Version

To be introduced at the CeBIT, Collanos’ latest Version 1.4.0.2 features many new functions and enhancements. New Premium services have been added to Collanos Workplace and Collanos Phone. For example, all users can now be reached at their own Collanos phone number from any public telephone.

Collanos Receives Dual Nominations for the 2009 IT INNOVATION PRIZE.

Collanos has been nominated for the “2009 IT INNOVATION PRIZE” at this year’s CeBIT for its innovative solution geared especially toward small and medium-sized businesses. That puts Collanos in the top three in the “Unified Communications” and “Special Awards – Switzerland” categories. The winners will be announced on March 5 at the official CeBIT awards ceremony.

Prices and Availability

Collanos Software products are free of charge and can be downloaded at http://www.collanos.com. Prices for LumiMagic vary depending on the package ordered and start at Euro 129 plus a monthly flat rate of Euro 19.

About Triple Play & more

”Triple Play & more” is a consortium of companies operating in the telecommunications and multimedia industries. Their areas of activity include construction, operations, maintenance, and financing of multimedia platforms as well as the development and sales of telecommunications and interactive multimedia services that are consolidated on telephony, broadband Internet, and television end devices.

In addition to companies of the Translumina Group (Translumina Networks, Comitas, Lambdastream, three60mobile), Triple Play & more also includes Collanos Software, CTModule, NetModule, AareNet, MHM and BlueBit.

Collanos Workplace 1.4. integrates Collanos Phone’s voice functions. Three voice services are now available to teams.

1. Call Your Contacts/Members for Free

You can call any other Collanos user for free, if the connection can be established directly over the Internet. These direct calls can be set up in a number of ways. Generally, the command is contained in the context menu if you click on the contact or member directly. Sometimes you will also find a “Call” button in Collanos Workplace’s tool bar. When such a direct free call is established between two Collanos users, the Collanos Phone application will open automatically on both sides.

2. Call Your Contacts’/Members’ Regular Phone Numbers (Dial-Out Premium Service)

If you have purchased dial-out credit, you can call Collanos Workplace contacts and members on their regular phones. To do this, use again the context menu, but select “Dial-Out” and then one of the available numbers “Office”, “Home” or “Mobile”.

Phone Numbers in User Profile
Each Collanos user can set and change his regular phone numbers in his or her own user profile. Fill out these fields so that your contacts and friends are able to contact you even when you are not in from of your computer.

Purchase Dial-Out Phone Credit (Premium Service)
Dialing-out to regular phone numbers is a premium service. To be able to use this service, users need to purchase dial-out credit on Collanos’ secure web shop, using a VISA or MasterCard credit card.

Voice Box and Redirect Feature
Quite interesting especially for traveling users are the voice box and the call-redirect feature. Settings for these features can be made on the user’s account pages on Collanos’ secure web site.

Voice messages left for the user on his voice box are automatically forwarded to the user’s email.

Call Redirect redirects calls intended for Collanos Phone to a regular phone number, for instance to a mobile phone. Your team members and contacts will still be able to call you for free on your Collanos Phone, but the calls will be redirected to another number after a defined time. This feature is automatically available for all users that have a positive phone credit balance on their account.

3. High-quality Team Calls

There are two different kinds of team calls available in Collanos Workplace.

• The first is based on the central conference service and supporting up to 10 participants.
• The second is working between Collanos Phones only (no central server involved), but is limited to 3 participants.

The advantage of the central service is that conference call details such as “Subject”, “Description” and “List of Participants” are being sent by Workplace message as well as by Email to all participants. The Collanos Phone based conference on the other hand is directly calling the other two participants.

You can start a conference call by clicking on the button in Collanos Workplace’s toolbar at any time:

Central Conference Service
To establish a call based on the central conference service, use the first tab and fill in the form, such as:

• Conference call subject
• Conference call description (e.g. an agenda or the goals of this call)
• PIN code to protect the call
• Delay before the call starts (a good idea is to give a 5 or 15 minutes advance notice before starting)
• Desired participants

After starting such a conference call by clicking on “Start” button, all participants will receive a notification message, both in form of a Workplace chat message (system generated) and email notification. The email notification has one additional element, it contains a web link to automatically join the call.

Collanos Phone Conference
To establish a Conference Call that is started directly from your Collanos Phone, as well as the audio mixed on your local computer, use the second tab.

We are excited to share important news about Collanos services with you.

Premium Voice Services
We have begun to roll out our first premium services. Collanos Phone users can now dial-out to any public phone number in the world. This service is being provided by Translumina Networks, a leading VoIP provider. Direct Collanos-to-Collanos calls on the Internet are still free of charge. You can easily purchase and add dial-out phone credit to your personal account. Simply login on our secure web site using your Collanos Name and password to access your Collanos account.

Looking Ahead
And this is only the start. Over the next weeks you will be able to choose from additional premium voice services. For instance, call-in services, local phone numbers for Collanos Phone users to be called from any public phone. You will furthermore be able to buy into powerful physical or hosted PBXs, VoIP telephone switchboards, completely integrated into the Collanos and public telephone networks, resulting in substantial cost savings.

Unified Collaboration
Collanos Workplace will integrate these voice services in the early November release. Users will be able to call contacts and establish conference calls with all team members, both on the Internet and public telephones. This will make Collanos Workplace the first unified team collaboration solution reaching beyond enterprise boundaries.

Workplace 1.3.0.3
Already back in July we launched a new version of Collanos Workplace. For thousands of users it proves to be the rock solid foundation for server-less secure cross-platform teamwork. Private users, small and large companies with their customers are using it successfully. On our User Forum and Web site you will find detailed release notes outlining all new improvements. Committed Collanos community members started translating it to many new languages.

Support Your Teamwork
This is a good time to get a taste of this unified collaboration experience. Start using it with your project teams, customers, clients, suppliers, partners as well as friends and family. You can download Collanos Workplace and Collanos for free on our download site. Premium services can also easily be purchased in the premium shop on our web site. Invite your teammates easily from your existing address books and social networks, using Collanos’ built-in invitation functions.

Spread the Word
Do you enjoy all these free services? Please help us as well. Spread the word! Twitter about your Collanos teamwork experience. Look for Collanos pages or groups on your favorite social networks, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing or Plaxo. Join those groups and let us keep in touch.

Seit kurzer Zeit ist die erste Premium-Dienstleistung für Collanos Phone verfügbar.

Premium Sprachdienste
Für Collanos Phone steht jetzt die erste Premium-Dienstleistung zur Verfügung. Nutzer von Collanos Phone können damit jede beliebige Telefonnummer weltweit anrufen. Diese Dienstleistung wird durch den Schweizer VoIP Anbieter Translumina Networks angeboten. Natürlich sind direkte Telefongespräche im und Videocalls im Internet mit Collanos Phone weiterhin kostenlos. Guthaben für Telefonanrufe ins öffentliche Telefonnetz können im neuen Collanos Shop gekauft werden. Loggen Sie sich hierfür auf der Collanos Website mit Ihrem Collanos Namen und Passwort in den sicheren Bereich ein.

Blick in die Zukunft
Das Anrufen ins Telefonnetz ist jedoch nur der erste Schritt. Über die nächsten Wochen werden weitere Collanos Premium Sprachdienstleistungen hinzu kommen. Collanos Phone-Nutzer können dann eigene Telefonnummern zugeteilt bekommen, um von jedem Telefon aus einfach erreicht werden zu können. Für Teams und Unternehmen werden virtuelle oder physische Telefonzentralenservices ins Angebot aufgenommen, vollständig integriert mit dem Collanos-, dem öffentlichen Telefonnetzwerk und der bereits bestehenden Telefonausrüstung. Diese Lösung verspricht grosse Kosteneinsparungen.

Umfassende Unterstützung der Zusammenarbeit
Collanos Workplace wird im nächsten grösseren Release, geplant für Anfang November, obige Sprachdienstleistungen ebenfalls vollständig integrieren. Collanos Workplace-Nutzer werden ganz einfach Teammitglieder anrufen oder im Workspace-Team Telefonkonferenzen durchführen können. Dies über Internet und Telefonnetz. Collanos Workplace wird damit die erste, wirklich umfassende Teamwork-Lösung für die Zusammenarbeit über Unternehmensgrenzen hinaus.

Workplace 1.3.0.3

Bereits Anfang Juli wurde die aktuelle Version von Collanos Workplace zum Download freigegeben. Es ist uns damit gelungen, die stabile Basis zu legen für die sichere, elektronische Zusammenarbeit ohne Server am Internet. Dies bestätigen die Tausenden von Benutzern, die bereits erfolgreich auf die neue Version gewechselt haben: Private Anwender für die Zusammenarbeit im Team mit Kollegen bis zum firmenübergreifenden Teamwork zwischen Unternehmen, Lieferanten, Partnern und Kunden. Eine detaillierte Beschreibung der Neuerungen finden Sie in den Release Notes auf der Collanos Website sowie im Collanos Forum.

Mit der aktuellen Version können Nutzer Collanos Workplace selbst in neue Sprachen übersetzen. Die Teamwork-Lösung wird somit bald in weiteren Sprachen verfügbar sein wird.

Unterstützen Sie alle Ihre Teams, jetzt

Mit den soliden Collanos Produkten ist der Zeitpunkt gekommen, allen Teams die Möglichkeit zu geben, konsequent ihre Zusammenarbeit zu vereinfachen und so produktiver zu werden. Setzen Sie Collanos Workplace und Collanos Phone mit Ihrem Projektteam, mit Kunden, Lieferanten, Partnern und auch privat in Familie und mit Kollegen ein. Alle unsere Produkte sind weiterhin kostenlos auf der Collanos Download-Seite erhältlich. Zusätzlich können nun die neuen Premium Sprachdienstleistungen im Collanos Shop gekauft werden.

Teammitglieder, die noch nicht Collanos-Nutzer sind, können mit den neuen Einladefunktionen in Collanos Workplace, Collanos Phone oder auf der Collanos Website ganz einfach zum Team eingeladen werden. Collanos Workplace erlaubt, Kontakte aus Ihren Adressbüchern und Social Networks einzuladen.

Collanos bekannt machen
Schätzen Sie die kostenlosen Möglichkeiten, die Ihnen Collanos bietet? Helfen Sie dafür doch mit, möglichst vielen Menschen Collanos bekannt zu machen. Reden, schreiben, bloggen oder twittern Sie über Collanos. Es gibt eine Collanos Seite auf Facebook und Gruppen auf anderen gängigen sozialen Netzwerken wie Plaxo, LinkedIn oder Xing. Zeigen Sie dort doch auch, dass Sie Collanos nutzen und schätzen. Ich freue mich darauf, überall im Netz Collanos Anwendern zu begegnen. Let’s keep in touch!

Today, the new version of Collanos Workplace, 1.3, will be made available. The foundation of Collanos Workplace has been thoroughly optimized and the teamwork functions have been largely extended. Collanos now includes a Team Instant Messenger environment. In addition, Collanos Workplace 1.3 sets standards as to a comprehensive user task management. Team members can work with their own Windows, Mac or Linux systems, and the results will be available to the other team members on the internet –as simply and fast as using a server-based solution.

Collanos has boosted the technology behind its p2p (peer to peer) platform. Any online team member can ensure that all other team members, even if online only for a short period, have access to the most up-to-date workspace content.

The most noticeable improvement from a user´s perspective is the new task management function which is now accessible from all across Workplace. In an overview window, the user can view, track and maintain all the tasks across all his workspaces. In addition, a new Collanos Instant Messenger has been integrated into the teamwork environment. It allows team members to conduct dialogs, discuss issues and work out creative solutions by using the chatting function.

The extensions of version 1.3 will allow Collanos to develop and offer new features in the upcoming months. “The extensions of the peer-to-peer technology allow Collanos partners and service providers to offer value-added services”, explains Franco Dal Molin, president and CTO of Collanos Software. “These offerings include persistent, secure and reliable data storage, permanent team synchronization and the possibility to access workspace content from the browser. Messaging is planned to be augmented with team messaging and voice/video functionality. As in task management, other relevant team work tasks will be supported Workplace-wide, for example, in the form of team calendars and other tools for planning and change management.”

Workplace 1.3 is seen as the turning point for Collanos to establish itself clearly as the leading cross-company teamwork environment on the internet. Peter Helfenstein, CEO of Collanos Software, is convinced: “The solid foundation to support ad-hoc teamwork has been established. Teamwork has always been of great importance. In our globally networked world, effective teamwork has become the crucial factor of success. With Collanos Workplace 1.3, the required platform and tools are now available to everybody.”

Collanos macht heute die neue Version seines Collanos Workplace 1.3 verfügbar. Das Fundament von Collanos Workplace wurde massiv verbessert und die eigentlichen Teamworkfunktionen wurden wesentlich erweitert. Collanos ist nun auch eine Team-Instant-Messenger-Umgebung. Zudem setzt Collanos Workplace 1.3 neue Standards für umfassendes Task-Management der Benutzer. Teamworker können mit ihrem eigenen Windows-, Mac- oder Linux-Rechner arbeiten, die Ergebnisse stehen den anderen Teammitgliedern im Internet trotzdem genauso einfach und schnell zur Verfügung wie beim Einsatz einer Server-basierten Lösung.

Collanos hat die Technologie seiner p2p (Peer-to-Peer)-Plattform mit der neuen Version weiter ausgebaut und verfeinert. Bereits ein einzelnes online Teammitglied stellt sicher, dass alle anderen Teammitglieder, wenn auch nur kurzzeitig online, die Ergebnisse der Arbeiten der Teammitglieder auf dem allerneuesten Stand zur Verfügung haben.

Den wohl grössten funktionalen Schritt für den Benutzer bietet Collanos mit dem neu eingeführten Workplace-übergreifenden Task-Management. Der Benutzer kann alle definierten Tasks über seine sämtlichen Teams hinweg in einer Übersicht einsehen, tracken, pflegen und ergänzen. In die Teamwork-Umgebung wurde zudem ein neuer Collanos Instant Messenger integriert. Teammitglieder können so in gewohnter Weise mittels Chatting Dialoge führen, Probleme diskutieren und kreativ Lösungen erarbeiten.

Mit den Erweiterungen der Version 1.3 legt Collanos die Basis, um seinen Benutzern in den nächsten Monaten weitere neue Funktionen zur Verfügung zu stellen. „Die Erweiterungen der Peer-to-Peer-Technologie erlauben, dass in Zukunft Collanos-Partner oder Service Provider Mehrwertdienste anbieten“, erläutert Franco Dal Molin, President und CTO von Collanos Software. „Diese Angebote reichen von der permanenten, sicheren und zuverlässigen Datenhaltung, hundert Prozent verfügbarer Teamsynchronisation bis hin zum Zugriff auf die Ergebnisse der Teamarbeit nur über Browser. Messaging soll bald um Team-Messaging und Voice-/Videofunktionen ergänzt werden. Analog dem Task Management werden weitere relevante Teamworkaufgaben in Zukunft Workplace-übergreifend unterstützt, so beispielsweise in Form von Teamkalendern sowie weiteren Planungs- und Change Management-Werkzeugen.“

Der neue Release 1.3. ist für Collanos Ausgangspunkt, um sich definitiv als die führende firmenübergreifende Teamwork-Umgebung am Internet zu etablieren. „Das solide Fundament, um das ad-hoc Teamwork professionell zu unterstützen, ist nun gelegt“, ist Peter Helfenstein, CEO von Collanos Software, überzeugt. „Teamwork war schon immer wichtig. In der global vernetzten Welt ist gutes Teamwork der Erfolgsfaktor schlechthin. Die dafür benötigte Plattform und die Werkzeuge stehen mit Collanos Workplace 1.3 ab sofort jedem zur Verfügung.“