Kopano (software)

Kopano is an open-source groupware application suite originally based on Zarafa. The initial version of Kopano Core (KC) was forked from the then-current release of the Zarafa Collaboration Platform, and superseded ZCP in terms of lineage as ZCP switched to maintenance mode with patches flowing from KC. Kopano WebApp similarly descended from Zarafa WebApp.

The original goal of ZCP was to be a replacement for Microsoft Exchange, i.e. that users could retain Outlook as a client application. While Kopano's business stragey has shifted towards providing a comprehensive office collaboration suite in its own right, Kopano Core still supports connections from Outlook clients either via Z-push/ActiveSync, or the (by now unsupported) Zarafa Windows MAPI plugin.

The Kopano Outlook Extension add-in for Outlook provides the Outlook functionality that ActiveSync alone doesn't support. This includes for example support for Out of Office or public folders. ActiveSync and Kopano Outlook Extension together are therefore able to fully integrate the Kopano backend within Outlook in a corporate environment.

WebApp plugins exist to perform advanced group tasks such as accessing cloud based storage solutions (e.g. owncloud / nextcloud), for integrated video conference (webmeetings) or for handling S/MIME emails within WebApp.

A desktop application, DeskApp, is also available. This is the same look and feel as WebApp but integrates directly with the user's desktop and it is available for Windows, Linux or Mac.

All server-side components (Kopano Core) and WebApp are published under the Affero General Public License (AGPL).

Microsoft Outlook, as well as Kopano/Zarafa clients, uses MAPI at the source code level. So-called MAPI providers (essentially plugins) abstract and take care of the underlying transport mechanism. Kopano-server exposes its functionality over stream sockets and uses the HTTP protocol, with data being serialized using SOAP/XML. The commands sent in the XML data are specific to Kopano/Zarafa. Conversely, the Kopano MAPI provider implements this protocol on the client side. These HTTP connections can be secured with TLS/SSL and be proxied if desired.