Things have been very quiet at Zimbra of late, but the recent announcement of the availability of VMware Zimbra for Android (VZA) is perking things up.  Initially the app has been described as just a fling, since it was a short term offering; it was not only a short term thing, but a fun project for the team to explore. There was no guarantee that anything from the project was going to be part of the future products offering, but they can now be easily downloaded and played with by the developer community.  And they are completely free.

The VMware Zimbra for Android app, commonly referred to as a VZA, is an Android collaboration application that enables you accesses your contacts, email, calendar, files and tasks from Android devices.  VZA supports the VMware Zimbra Collaboration Server (ZCS) and the entire Microsoft Active Sync compliant email server.  It also offers several additional Zimbra features, such as the Saved Searches and Briefcase, incorporating some specific business tools not found anywhere else in Android email applications.
It’s the growing demand around enterprise solutions that drove VMware to pour a few more resources into this project.  The social enterprise is an increasingly important aspect of VMware’s extended suite of solutions, especially as mobile apps provide perfect access points and efficient delivery mechanisms to empower workers, and subsequently their productivity.

According to the Vice President of Zimbra Products VMware, Jim Morrisroe, “VMware Zimbra continues to be the fastest-growing enterprise collaboration solution – now with more than 66 million paid mailboxes and more than 200,000 organizations using VMware Zimbra as their next-generation collaboration platform of choice.”

VMware rose to the occasion as far as the post-PC era is concerned. One such key change is the integration with several modern devices, like the smartphones and tablets.  Accessibility is key to end users, and this is increasing technology demands for businesses, though they have a unique set of requirements surrounding their mobility strategies. VMware has committed themselves in providing multiple interfaces for all their products, and the new Zimbra SDK is another example of its dedication to this form of expansion.

In 2009, VMware did launch VCMA, which allowed users to manage private clouds through a browser from any cell phones.  They also released a native iPad app in March this year that offers a much richer user experience to manage vSphere deployments.