Integrated document management and workflow software house Keyfile Corp has come to market with a workflow add-on for Microsoft Corp’s Exchange that it claims is the silver bullet Exchange needs to take on Lotus Notes. Keyfile believes its Keyflow for Exchange Server adds all the workflow features that Notes has, and plenty more that Microsoft left out of Exchange. Although Lotus is its primary target, the Nashua, New Hampshire firm is also planning to go head-on against Novell Inc’s Groupwise when combined with FileNet Corp software. Marketing vice-president Roger Sullivan says it is also hoping to head Netscape Communications Corp off at the pass before it can put together a viable high-end workflow offering. Unlike older Keyfile software, which originally targeted OS/2, Sullivan says Keyflow won’t appear under any other operating system because it’s been written specifically for Exchange. We may lose some business, but this allows us to be very tightly integrated with Exchange, Sullivan said. Workflow objects in Keyflow are Exchange registered forms. Keyflow templates are designed to be stored in Exchange public folders. The graphical workflow mapping tool, a modified version of the tool in Keyfile/JobMaker 3.1, appears in the Exchange Server Compose menu, where it’s used to design workflow plans that become the corporate policies and procedures governing Keyflow applications. Sullivan said Keyfile has already begun hawking Keyflow to every major Exchange customer it has been able to identify, a group he says that includes a million seats of opportunity. The number doesn’t represent deployed Exchange seats, he’s careful to add, but rather future deployments by potential customers. The actual size of the current installed base is perhaps half a million. Keyflow pricing is dependent on the size of the installation, with client prices starting at $300 each.
