New version of SME Server available.


SME Server 9 was released.

"The SME Server development team is pleased to announce the release of SME Server 9.0 which is based on CentOS 6.5. SME Server is the leading Linux distribution for small and medium enterprises. SME Server is brought to you by Koozali Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation that exists to provide marketing and legal support for SME Server. It is with the deepest regret we have to inform you that on Wednesday 11th June Chris Burnat passed away. He was one of the most ardent supporters of Koozali SME Server and we all owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. We dedicate this release of SME Server 9.0 to Chris. Without him it would be nowhere near ready. If you download and use it, please remember him and his work, and that of all the other contributors who work tirelessly to make Koozali SME as good as it is."


SME Server (known as e-smith at the time) was founded in January 1999 by Joseph and Kim Morrison. The company introduced the first version of its flagship software product, the e-smith server and gateway, in April 1999. By the end of the year, many thousands of e-smith servers were running in countries from Fiji to Finland. Word was spreading quickly among developers and systems integrators who needed a solid, easy-to-use server for their small-business customers. In July 2001, e-smith was acquired by Mitel Networks, but was later released as an open-source product under the GPL licence. In May 2013 a new not-for-profit organisation was set up to manage SME server. Due to copyright issues it was named Koozali SME Server Inc. The word "Koozali" approximates to Swahili for "rebirth". Future versions will use this name. The distribution, which is based on CentOS, is currently entirely funded by donations.