Kerio Workspace Starter

I have been working a little with Kerio Workspace Starter edition... though... a little opinion about it.

If you are searching for a value-added solution for documents sharing for your company, giving more than Dropbox and having less administrative effort than SharePoint by Microsoft, Kerio Workspace could be the best answer.

I've implemented Kerio Workspace for a couple of organizations, and it really responds to the most common needs. It is extremely simple in its implementation and administration, quite lightweight and confidentiality of the communication tunnel is granted by HTTPS transport. Its start-up administration has an incredibly low cost. Installing it on a CentOS operating system 6.2 is as simple as running the command:

# yum install ./kerio-workspace-2.0.1-505-linux.rpm

(I recommend using YUM so dependencies are automatically solved for you). Accessing the administration console using mostly any browser happens pointing to the https://hostaddress:4060/admin, so no further software is needed to manage it (like other Kerio products). Backups are disabled by default so you should really consider activating it, and I would also suggest the installation of a CA generated SSL certificate to avoid the annoyance of "invalid certificate" message. You may find out SSL certificates from intermediate CAs for as low as 20USD/year for this. I have successfully generated an SSL certificate via Comodo.com within 15 minutes, in few easy steps:

• Build the CSR in the Kerio Workspace administration console
• Import the CSR in the CA website (use "Tomcat" for server type if asked)
• Validate your domain name (see CA's instructions)
• Import the .crt file in the console
• Restart Kerio Workspace

After that, you can start running your Document Sharing website, it takes about... 1 hour to complete (downloads included). The Starter edition available on the Kerio website allows you to have a document sharing system up and running for free and having unlimited users and up to 5Gb of space upgradable to 10Gb if you register the product online.

The idea of having a Dropbox-style application is extremely attractive. I like Dropbox, it is a really user-friendly platform, but if you want to gave a storage area of Yours with the ease of use of Dropbox, you will just love the Kerio Workspace Client. It runs on both Windows and MacOS operating systems, and allows you to drag and drop, edit or delete files from the Workspace just using the windows manager of your preferred operating system. Working from home and office? Save the document at office and get home, you will find it synchronized.

Another feature I like pretty much, even if I think it is - for now - a little limiting, is the possibility of opening the calendar on any .ics-enabled calendar client: Microsoft Outlook or either your iPad/iPhone.

Got to say that if you sum the functional advantages, Kerio Workspace's cost is extremely interesting:

1. Linux operating system license: GPL (no cost)
2. Location service (if outsourced): depending on your provider, free if "in-house"
3. SSL certificate: 20USD/year
4. Administrative effort: ~2 hours

It allows Microsoft Windows Active Directory implementation, yet for this to work you need a Microsoft Windows server joined to the domain, which makes costs change a bit. Perhaps, in this case, you might consider using a registered version of Kerio Workspace.

For further reference you might consider visiting:

• Trustico intermediate certification authority website
• Comodo.com intermediate certification authority website
• GoDaddy intermediate certification authority website
• Kerio Workspace product page