Genii Weblog
When imitation makes sense
Thu 6 Apr 2017, 11:27 AM
Tweetby Ben Langhinrichs
There is an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But a corollary i9n the tech world might be imitation is the surest form of interoperability.
A long-standing complaint among Notes users has been that many solutions build integrations for Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, but not for IBM Notes/Domino. While there are myriad reasons, it leaves an ISV supporting Notes/Domino with a challenge. Do we only support those solutions with native Notes/Domino integrations, or do we build out own solution/integration? Both choices are limiting.
When we built CoexLinks Journal and CoexLinks Migrate, we faced this challenge again. Did we want to restrict our output to third-party platforms that support Notes/Domino, or did we want to build our own archival solution which would distract from our core business? We needed a third choice, which is where imitation comes in. If we could deliver emails in a format that sufficiently mimics Microsoft Exchange Journals, the data warehouses and email vaults that support Microsoft Exchange would automatically support IBM Notes/Domino (and IBM Verse, as a bonus).
So we did that. We render the emails with our exclusive high fidelity rendering engine, package them as EML files and wrap them in an envelope that looks just like a Microsoft Exchange Journal. Now, for our customers who need journaling for compliance, surveillance and analysis or legacy archiving for similar purposes, we can integrate with any of the myriad email vaults or data warehouses that accept Microsoft Exchange. Because the MIME format is standardized, even if the journal envelope isn't, those emails are preserved in a standards-based format that does not require a dedicated Domino storage. Of course, the envelope is just an option, as a customer can also archive or migrate using EML or MBOX format. Regardless of the specific goal, migration or coexistence or archiving or data warehousing, a standards-based solution is more likely to be readable and usablein the future, no matter what happens to the different email platforms.
Why not try CoexLinks Journal or CoexLinks Migrate for your company? Or contact us for further information.
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