What’s better, Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange? Malaysia’s TechCentral attempts to find the answer.

AppIQ announced release 2.0 of AppIQ Solution Suite. AppIQ Solution=20 Suite =96 which includes AppIQ Manager, AppIQ for Oracle and AppIQ for=20 Microsoft Exchange =96 provides integrated management of applications,=20 servers, storage network and storage subsystem devices in a single application.

Can’t live without email? According to this article from BBC News, a week without email is more traumatic than moving house or getting divorced.

PC Magazine reviews Kubi Client 1.0. Kubi Client 1.0 makes collaboration easy by using shared spaces for documents, threaded discussions, contact lists, tasks, and calendars within Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes.

Researchers at Microsoft are working on technology that makes it easier to navigate Usenet news groups and could eventually help clear clutter in email inboxes. According to PC World, a Microsoft concept called the Community .Net Server takes a new approach to displaying Usenet groups and message threads, making it easier for users to pick a relevant group, cutting out spam and displaying the most active threads first. Although the concept is for Usenet groups, Microsoft researchers beleive that it can be extended to email.

Here’s a review of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. PC Magazine says that Medium and large organizations will want to migrate to Exchange 2003 because of its easier administration compared with the Exchange 2000. Small businesses will find Exchange 2003 a robust, feature-rich email and groupware solution with an affordable price. And end users will benefit from the improved (and included) Outlook 2003 client, which should be available in conjunction with the server’s release.

Electric News.Net reports that in 2008, 40 percent of the 21 million Western Europeans who own business-centric mobile phones, or 8.4 million users, will access their email over their handsets. Telecom firm Analysys says that over the same period, the annual mobile service revenue generated by email will increase from EUR49 million in 2003 to EUR2.9 billion.

Research In Motion unveiled the Java-based BlackBerry 6210, which delivers email, phone, SMS, browser and organizer applications in a single wireless handheld that supports international roaming. RIM offers a web-based application called BlackBerry Web Client. BlackBerry Web Client appeals to customers that do not currently use Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino and also those users that wish to access a personal email account in addition to their enterprise email account.

Network World Fusion reports that UpShot plans to unveil new dashboard functionality for its software service, offering snapshots of operational data. UpShot also announced its forthcoming integration with Lotus Notes messaging and information management software. UpShot has integrated with Microsoft’s Outlook contacts, tasks and calendar features, and in November it updated its software with integration hooks for Outlook email, allowing users to move data easily between Outlook and UpShot.

Deerfield.com announced the debut of VisNetic Oddpost, bringing the familiarity of a desktop email client like Outlook with the accessibility of Web-based email. VisNetic Oddpost supports any Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server product including Microsoft Exchange, VisNetic MailServer, and others.