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				=============================================
				The Advantages of Having A Kolab Subscription
				=============================================

				Subscription-based support is available for Kolab from `Kolab Systems AG`_.
				Kolab Systems is the primary developer and maintainer of Kolab, and provides enterprise-level
				design, deployment, development, and support for Kolab installations to public and private organizations
				of all sizes. Subscriptions are offered on a per-seat basis, and provide subscribers with distinct advantages.

				The Benefits of Having a Kolab Subscription
				===========================================

				Subscriptions are an excellent way to support the ongoing development of Kolab, as proceeds go directly
				into infrastructure Kolab development relies on as well as the employment of the core
				Kolab technical team.

				But the most compelling aspect of subscriptions are the exclusive benefits that come with them. These
				advantages reliably lower the cost of ownership and increase overall reliability for the customer, including:

				1. Access to rolling security and bugfix updates

				Non-subscribers will need to update their Kolab installations annually to get the last year's worth
				of fixes and improvements. Subscribers, on the other hand, benefit immediately from fixes as they become
				available between releases. Along with releases, all updates are cryptographically signed with Kolab
				System's private GPG key allowing verification of the binaries.

				2. Five years of extended support for each release

				This is vitally important for production deployments, as significant changes may occur from one annual
				release to the next. Performing “update the world” upgrades to production systems every year can be a
				significant task and induce risk, both of which incur costs. Subscribers, on the other hand, can upgrade
				when it fits their interests best, secure in the knowledge that the version of Kolab they are currently
				running will be supported for years to come in that configuration.

				And of course, all released packages are kept in perpetuity, which grants additional management flexibility,
				such as being able to downgrade specific components via the package manager if needed.

				3. Professional support from Kolab Systems

				If problems are encountered during setup, deployment,
				migration or production usage, you can access the expertise of Kolab Systems' technical support team
				through your subscription privileges, such as access to our internal ticketing system. Subscribers also
				receive greater priority in the community support forums and other communication channels Kolab
				Systems maintains.

				4. Professional services

				Kolab Systems' “Tiger Team” of specialists may be retained by those with active Kolab subscriptions.
				Services which are available on a per-project basis include deployment planning and management, infrastructure
				integration (e.g. with existing directory services, including Active Directory), custom development, and
				white-labeling. For deployments with special requirements or that need to scale reliably, this expertise in
				high-availability, load-balancing, cluster/cloud deployment, and integration is invaluable.

				Subscribers also have greater influence over where Kolab Systems focuses development resources for
				upcoming releases in general.

				5. Access to optimized system packages

				By default, Kolab uses the stock packages for PHP, Apache HTTPD, MariaDB, openSSL and others that come
				with the base operating system. Kolab Systems engineers have made many improvements to the configuration and
				builds of these packages that are available exclusively to subscribers.

				These optimizations ensure, for instance, that Roundcube scales well and that encryption is set up in the most
				secure way possible for Kolab's needs. Every production environment benefits from this tuning and fitness work,
				and is only available to Kolab subscribers.

				Have Questions or Comments?
				===========================

				We welcome feedback from our users, customers and partners. If you have any questions, concerns or
				comments about the information in this briefing, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at
				info@kolabsystems.com.