HyperOffice: The Other Google Apps Competitor

When I recently wrote about Los Angeles’ move to Google Apps, I mentioned Zoho as an enterprise-grade SaaS suite competitor worth considering. Still, more options loom. A prime example: HyperOffice, which provides a hosted collaboration suite aimed to compete with Microsoft’s offerings in the SMB space. Here are the details.

HyperOffice is in the process of invite-only beta testing a “complete reinvention” of their trademark HyperOffice Collaboration Suite, so it’s an ideal time to check in with them. Here’s what VARs should know about HyperOffice.

HyperOffice, based in Maryland, was founded in 1998 in the heyday of the dot-com boom as one of the first to provide business software from the browser. In 2000, HyperOffice underwent an unsuccessful rebranding to WebOS, which tried to mimic a desktop operating system’s functionality from the browser; a sort of prototypical version of the upcoming Google ChromeOS. When the bubble burst in 2001, HyperOffice laid low for a year before returning to their once and future name, according to Shahab Kaviani, VP of marketing, HyperOffice.

That brings us up to today, where HyperOffice offers its SaaS browser-based collaboration suite to partners and businesses alike. I got the chance to try the new HyperOffice Collaboration Suite beta: Its newly Ajax-powered feature set has an IM client, Outlook integration, e-mail setup and management, and a laundry list of other features (including wiki generation). Rather than individually accessing each application in a different browser window, it’s all from a HyperOffice portal specific to your company.

Also available from HyperOffice:

HyperOffice also offers free support and training for all its tools, according to its website.

As I mentioned, this new update to HyperOffice Collaboration Suite is written entirely in the Ajax programming language, which — according to company press releases — increases speed, security, stability, and scalability under the hood. HyperOffice also claim the new release boasts a more streamlined interface over the currently available version.

This is still only a beta, so expect further updates down the line as it gets closer to general availability. Channel partners can get more information by visiting HyPerOffice’s partner page.