Kerio Mail Server – Now Kerio Connect, supports CardDav.

Beta 3 of Kerio Connect 7 (renamed from Kerio Mail Server) from Kerio Technologies, Inc. now supports CardDav.  Snow Leopard users can now rejoice that fully native contacts synching is on the way.

When Snow Leopard released on August 28th, Kerio Mail Server was not fully compatible with Snow Leopard.  I have always enthusiastically upgraded to the latest version of Mac OS X on the date of the release, so when I found out that KMS was not going to support Snow Leopard, that was a major drawback.  Although email was unaffected, Kerio Mail Server was not compatible with the new version of iCal in Snow Leopard.  Anyone who upgraded to Snow Leopard found out afterward that their Kerio hosted calendar was read only in iCal, and could not be managed in iCal.  Users needed to either modify their calendar from webmail, or use another device such as their iPhone.  Kerio followed up with an update (6.7.2) less than a month later.  The update fixed the compatibility issue with iCal.  With Snow Leopard, Apple introduced CardDav into Address Book.  Along with CardDav, Apple also added an updated native Exchange synching feature in Address Book.  This broke the ability for Address Book to synch with Kerio Mail Server through ‘Exchange’ synching.  Snow Leopard users would need to use the Kerio Sync Connector instead, which is a separate add-on that needs to be installed, and later, manually updated each time that there is a Kerio Mail Server update.  Kerio Sync Connector will synchronize the user’s contacts and  calendars with the Kerio server automatically.  Calendar synching can also be handled through CalDav instead of using the Kerio Sync Connector.   Computer geeks like myself don’t have a problem with updating software on a regular basis.  However, non-savvy users will often put off downloading updates, which over time, will lead to synchronization problems.

My goal as a Kerio Mail Server administrator has always been to use a deployment solution that does not require the end user to download and install an update each time that Kerio Mail Server is updated.  This is why I try not to use the Kerio Sync Connector, and instead, use the native ‘Exchange’ synching in Address Book for Macs running Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard), or earlier.  For Macs running Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), the Kerio Sync Connector has been the best way to synch contacts with the server.  With the release of Kerio Connect 7 beta 3,  Kerio has introduced native CardDav synching into their product.  This will eliminate the need to use a separate add-on.  Contacts will stay synchronized as long as the computer is connected to the network.

Although Apple has made a huge improvement in Exchange support for the Mac, Kerio Mail Server remains to be the best solution for small and medium businesses who need groupware features such as server hosted shared contacts, and calendars.  Kerio Mail Server supports all three of the major computing platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux).  My own email host, Get Sync’d, is using Kerio Mail Server to provide their customers with business class email service.  In mixed computing environments, Mac users and Windows users can collaborate seamlessly.  Often Mac users are made to live with little to no collaborative features when using email that is hosted an Exchange server.  This is due in part to the I.T. staff not knowing how to properly setup Exchange on the Mac, but also because Macs have lacked the native ability to tap into all of the features of Exchange.  Apple has brought native Exchange compatibility to the Mac, but only for Exchange 2007.  Kerio Mail Server brings all of the collaborative features of Exchange to the Mac with an easier setup process, and at a lower overall cost.  Kerio Mail Server is perfect for small and medium businesses since the cost of setting up an in house mail server running Kerio Mail Server is considerably less than deploying Exchange.  If your business does not need an in house mail server, Kerio hosting providers such as Rocket Fast, and  Get Sync’d are a great choice.  These providers can take the headache out of managing your email, and free you to concentrate on growing your business.  If you’re a home user, and you own your own domain name, having your email hosted by a Kerio hosting provider is a great way to maintain your email address even when you’re switching from one Internet service provider to another.  You won’t have to give up your email address just because you’ve grown tired of your ISP.

If you have a server available to use for testing, I suggest that you download, and check out Kerio Mail Server, or the new Kerio Connect beta.  Kerio allows a limited time test drive of Kerio Mail Server.  You will love the fast, and easy setup (2 minute install), and the ease of administration.  Kerio Mail Server has full support for Open Directory, and Active Directory.  It runs on Mac OS X Server, Windows Server, and Linux.  You can even run Kerio Mail Server on client versions of Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, but you won’t have the ability to tap into Open Directory and Active Directory.  As with any beta, Kerio Connect should not be deployed on a production server.