SME History
e-Smith Server History
SME Server was originally called "e-smith server and gateway" and was created as open-source software by the folks at e-Smith, Inc. (originally Powerframe Internetworking), founded by Joseph and Kim Morrison in early 1999. The software, based on Red Hat's popular Linux offering, quickly gained a reputation for simplicity and reliability, and a loyal following. e-Smith, Inc, was purchased by Mitel, Inc. in mid-2001, and the software, renamed SME Server v5 with ServiceLink, went through several revisions as they enhanced and extended it with many professional features to fit within their product line of small business telephone systems and vertical-market software. The SME community, which has always included many computer consultant companies, has also enhanced SME server with features requested by their customers, and then contributed them back to the community.
In late 2003 Mitel ceased active development of the software, and generously contributed its core additions, enhancements, documentation, forums, etc., to the community, enabling us to start out with the full benefit of 5+ years of experience with SME Server. Many of the community members here at contribs.org have been involved with SME Server for years.
An account of the early days
From an email to devinfo forum (10Feb2004) from Peter Samuel (Thanks, Peter!)
The e-smith Server & Gateway (now known as SME Server) was the brain child of Joe Morrison. He founded e-smith inc. Joe released his original code in the late 1990s (1999 if I remember correctly). Charlie Brady saw it and realised it would be a good fit as a server platform for various charitable and non-profit organisations to which he was donating his time and services (along with others including Gordon Rowell and myself). One of these charities was Community Aid Abroad (the Australian arm of Oxfam). The e-smith Server and Gateway was deployed in their Sydney office (replacing a previous Linux system maintained by Charlie, Gordon and myself as well as CAA staff). CAA was also working in East Timor and a version of the e-smith Server & Gateway was deployed in their East Timor site (with a number of modifications to support satellite modems and UUCP mail transport[1]).
During this time, Charlie and Gordon made contributions, modifications and bug fixes available to Joe. Gordon and I deployed the software in other commercial sites and CAA began rolling it out into their other offices across Australia. Joe was building up a strong customer base from Ottawa. Eventually, Joe was able to secure venture captial funding and began employing staff in early 2000. The company known as e-smith, inc was acquired by Mitel Networks in June 2001. The name of the product was changed to SME Server (it had other names during the transition but that's not really important here). A new revenue model was adopted[2] (ServiceLink) and over the next 2 years the focus/direction of the commercial product changed to incorporate more telephony features (Mitel is in the telephone business after all). In late 2003, Mitel decided to cease further commercial development of the product and transferred control of the GPL community infrastructure (the forums and lists etc) to the "devinfo" community.
Obviously this is a much abbreviated history. It may contain a couple of time line errors, but the information is factually correct to the best of my recollections.
[1] qmail was/is still used but remote transport was/is handled via uucp as it is more bandwidth friendly. Satellite modems cost money to run!
[2] The ServiceLink model was developed and originally coded before the acquisition but wasn't fully utilised until after the acquisition.
An account of the East Timor effort (PDF, page 6)
From an email to Ideas and Opinions forum (10Feb2004) from Gordon Rowell (Thanks, Gordon!)
"Email to Dili - you have got to be joking!", from Charlie and Gordon:
Version History
| Date | Version | |
| April 1999 | Version 2.02 | |
| August 1999 | Version 3.0 | |
| November 1999 | Version 3.1 | |
| July 2000 | Version 4.0 |
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| November 2000 | Version 4.0.1 | |
| February 2001 | Version 4.1 |
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| February 2001 | Version 4.1.1 |
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| March 2001 | Version 4.1.2 |
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| Sept 2001 | Version 5.0 |
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| January 2002 | Version 5.1.2 |
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| July 2002 | Version 5.5 |
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| January 2003 | Version 5.6 |
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| December 2003 | Version 6.0 |
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| March 2004 | Version 6.0.1 |
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| ? 2005 | Version 6.5 | |
Click on the links to see the readme or release notes for each version.
Mirrors Links
Organizational History
| Date | Occurrence | |
| February 1999 | Company founded (e-Smith, Inc.) | |
| May 2000 | Staff = 5 | |
| June 2000 | $3M Redhat and Greylock investments | |
| July 2000 | Staff = 18 | |
| September 2000 | New V.P., new Director | |
| October 2000 | Staff = 25 | |
| December 2000 | New V.P. | |
| July 2001 | Bought by Mitel | |
| November 2003 | Mitel transitions SME Server into public development status | |
| January 2004 | Contribs.org begins community development phase. Web site hosted by Resource Strategies. | |
| September 2004 | Lycoris takes over web site hosting. Web site is moved by Ruffdogs. | |
| December 2004 | Lycoris ceases development efforts and site hosting | |
| December 2004 | Resource Strategies takes over site hosting | |
| April 2005 | Developers decided to move to Sourceforge | |
| June 2005 | Ruffdogs takes over web site hosting and posts the Social Contract | |
Team Members (1999 - 2003 inclusive)
From a list compiled by Peter Samuel (if anyone is missing, please add, or let us know)
| Rebecca Anstett | Stephen Beamish | Shari Black | |
| Michael Brader | Charlie Brady | Steve Brand | |
| Sheila Burpee Duncan | Adrian Chung | Rob Clarke | |
| Tony Clayton | Damien Curtain | Andre Danis | |
| Lijie Deng | Mike Dickson | Yaser Elbatnigi | |
| Linda Faust | Lisa Graziadei | Emily Gregory | |
| Geoff Halprin | Pelly Heighton | Chris Houle | |
| Brett Jensen | Julie Jespersen | Micheal Kelly | |
| Mark Knox | Rich Lafferty | Ross Laver | |
| Jennifer Laycox | Bob Le Sueur | Jenn MacInnis | |
| Brian Martin | Jimena Martinez | Heather McCann | |
| Maureen McCann | Dan McGarry | Tim Mcguire | |
| Jason Miller | Erin Minogue | Michael Moir | |
| Joseph Morrison | Kim Morrison | Linda Murphy Holmes | |
| Paul Nesbit | Alejandro Osorio | Roderick Paterson | |
| Nelson Pereira | David Pipkins | Trevor Poole | |
| Karl Raffelsieper | Kathy Rasmussen | Alex Reid | |
| Kirrily Robert | Eric Robichaud | Lynn Rockburn | |
| Tyson Roffey | Matthew Rose | Gordon Rowell | |
| Susan Saliba | Peter Samuel | Michael Schwern | |
| Michael Soulier | Zac Sprackett | Lisa Spreen | |
| Chris Stewart | Leanne Stinson | Steve Viens | |
| Jesse Vincent | John Whyte | Dan York |
Historical Links
e-smith
e-smith.org - The original e-smith developer's site. No longer available.
powerframe.com/e-smith - Joseph Morrison's account of the founding and history of e-smith.
Mitel
Acq FAQ
(Note: The Mitel documents about the e-smith acquisition have mostly disappeared during a revamp of their website)
The 6000 MAS Product - The latest commercial version (2003), the 6000 MAS is SME Server's sister server from Mitel Networks.
contribs.org
Contribs.org announce - Jeff Coleman announces the formation of contribs.org
The Announcement - Dan York announces that Mitel Networks will cease active development on SME Server.
Contribs.org's view of the future - Jeff Coleman describes the early plans for the SME distro.
SME Server 6.0.1-01 .iso available - Contribs.org makes .iso file of new version of SME Server available. DiffsMitelToContribs
SME Server joins the Lycoris open-source family - Jeff Coleman announces the next phase in the evolution of the SME Server.
contribs.org : 100,000 forum posts on contribs.org!