Zimbra suitable for a mobile single user?

[revlob]

Hi,

I know someone who is self-employed, but works from both a desktop and a laptop on a regular basis. They also carry a smartphone running some flavour of Windows Mobile. They are big on Outlook, but have always wanted a solution that allows them to synchronise their Outlook items between all three devices.

If he was an employee of a large organisation, then Exchange would be the obvious choice. Currently he has a single POP3 mail account which he has been synchronising across machines using a piece of software called Emoze. He's not 100% happy with it, and I was wondering if there was a Zimbra solution for him.

It seems that the Zimbra Mobile stuff is only available through the Pro edition, which seems a bit overkill for a single person. Am I reading the version differences correctly?

He doesn't necessarily want BlackBerry-style over-the-air push email, just the ability to synch inboxes over the internet. Any suggestions?

[phoenix]

Welcome to the forums.

The best solution for a single user would be a hosted solution, details on this page.

[revlob]

Ah, that looks like an interesting option, but what I was ideally hoping for was the ability to locally host something on a machine tucked away in the office, preferably open-source. Is Outlook integration only available through the Network editions?

[phoenix]

The only option provided by Zimbra is the Outlook Connector which is available with the network Edition. According to this thread, it is possible to use Funambol which is the only Open Source option that anyone (supposedly) has got working although several have tried (search the forums).

[01-com]

From the shameless promotion department:

01.com provides instant activation and single user hosting, first 30 days basically free, with 2GB of space for $3.99/mo. You can add Zimbra Mobile for $1/mo more, and we also support Blackberry directly with our own Notify servers.

Zimbra Hosting, Pricing, Dedicated Servers & Professional Services | 01.com

[jholder]

I approved the 01.com hosting post, however, I must advise users reading this thread that there are many providers and Zimbra does not favor any provider over another.

You can view the full list here:
http://www.zimbra.com/partners/zimbra_hosting.html

-john