Microsoft Puts SharePoint in the Groove

Looking to corner a bigger chunk of the market for Web-based B2B
collaboration software, Microsoft on Monday announced it
would integrate its SharePoint Team Services software with the popular
Groove Workspace product.

Microsoft, which owns about 20 percent of peer-to-peer firm Groove Networks,
said the marriage of the two products would target the corporate market for
a Web site service that works as a central repository of all project
information-documents, contacts, tasks and discussions.

The companies said the combined service would support online and offline use
and automatic synchronization and would work securely across company
firewalls.

Beverly, Mass.-based Groove, which specializes in collaborative software and
services, would be tasked with delivering the service as an integration kit
that ties SharePoint Team Services into its Groove Workspace product.
Microsoft said the product would be available by fall 2002. Pricing was not
disclosed.

The company said Hewlett Packard has already signed on to
use the integrated workplace collaboration software once it becomes
available.

Groove Workspace, which is priced between $49 and $99 for standard or
professional packages, is a conferencing-type collaboration product built by
Lotus Notes developer Ray Ozzie in 1997. It allows users to share
documents, draw diagrams and charts and edit documents from a Web-based
interface in real time.

Once it gets tied into Microsoft’s SharePoint, the plan is to let corporate
teams directly access files stored on computers and communicate via instant
messaging and chat. The software allows for file sharing, calendaring and
collaborative product design.

The two companies have been working together on cross-selling or integrating
technologies ever since Microsoft pumped
$51 million into Groove as part of long-term plans to include
peer-to-peer services into its all-encompassing .NET Web Services
initiative.

Already, Microsoft and the privately held Groove Networks have integrated
the Windows Messenger with the P2P platform. Groove’s tools are also a big
part of Microsoft Office XP, expanding on document collaboration tools.