Montreal, Canada-based Messaging Architects acquired leadership of the Hula project as well as the NetMail product on which it is based at the end of January and plans to release a new version of NetMail in September 2007.
It also plans to contribute components of its M+Guardian Hula-based secure email gateway product to the Hula project, but in the meantime a new fork of the Hula code has sprung up in the form of the Bongo project.
The Bongo project will focus on the development of the Hula server email and calendaring server and web client software, but will steer clear of targeting enterprise opportunities, according to a published list of frequently asked questions, preferring to target home and SOHO users.
While the Messaging Architects-led Hula project and Bongo are now separate, there remains the potential for them to work together now that Messaging Architects is providing a future direction for Hula.
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Novell introduced the Hula project with much fanfare at LinuxWorld Expo Boston in February 2005 and had planned to eventually commercialize the Hula code as a project codenamed Maui. It eventually abandoned Hula in November 2006 saying it could not justify its investment in the project.
