Novell bets on Google Wave to replace its struggling GroupWise platform

Collaboration freaks that prefer Google Wave to Gmail and Sharepoint to Outlook Express will have yet another collaboration platform to poke and prod in the near future. As part of the March 21st kickoff of its Brainshare Conference, Novell is expected to debut its new Pulse collaboration platform which is based upon the Google Wave Federation Protocol, an open source collaboration architecture released by Google. As such, the new Pulse platform will let users upload files including Adobe PDFs, Office documents, and audio/video files as well as create new files that can be shared and edited by multiple users simultaneously, in real-time. Social features will also permeate the Pulse platform with users being able to participate in an in-site commenting system, make use of an in-site suggestion system, and integrate outside social networks that will deliver updates directly into their inbox. With its Wave roots, Pulse will also support  third party gadgets such as a whiteboard and a mini-spreadsheet and offer interoperability with Wave, allowing a Pulse user to easily collaborate on a document with a Wave user. Tailored for the enterprise, Pulse will include increased security options and more stringent document controls than its public counterpart. It’s slated for launch as a cloud platform in the first half of 2010 and as an on-site solution in the future, and Novell hopes the new Pulse platform will replace its aging GroupWise platform and bring the company back up to speed in the highly competitive enterprise market currently dominated by Microsoft Sharepoint and Lotus Notes.

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