NetManage Inc, San Jose, California, has combined its JetMail and Z-Mail email systems and will ship a beefed up version, called Z-Mail Pro, at the end of the month. NetManage also revealed that it will ship the next version of its Chameleon Internet desktop suite in September, which will include the Z-Mail update. The firm’s email and messaging strategy has followed a rather muddled path; it released JetMail in May (CI No 2,924), then a month later turned around and bought Z-Mail from Network Computing Devices Inc, Mountain View, California (CI No 2,928). It’s been selling both products until now. Yesterday NetManage outlined what it says will be a more straightforward strategy for the next nine months. At the end of August it will ship Z -Mail Pro for Windows, which now supports visual basic for applications (VBA) scripting, HTML viewing and composing, Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4) and open directory services. The new version will enable users to design and exchange email messages in Web page format and use formatted text, embedded graphics and live links to Web pages. It uses ActiveX to allow it to side-step traditional browsers. An upgrade will ship in about six months which will add support for lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), secure multi-purpose Internet mail extensions (S/MIME) and application configuration access protocol (ACAP). NetManage plans to add embedded Java within the next nine months. New versions of Z-Mail for Macintosh and Z-Mail for Unix – currently written in Z-Script – will ship within nine months. NetManage licensed VBA from Microsoft in June (CI 2,927) and says the language will enable its product to integrate with a wider number of applications and better compete with its main rivals, Microsoft Corp Exchange and Lotus Development Corp cc:Mail. Z-Mail has about 500,000 users but NetManage says it’s bent on aggressive growth this year. Z-Mail will be priced at $75. Existing JetMail and Z-Mail users can upgrade to Z-Mail Pro for $38.
