OpenText GroupWise explained: what it is, where it came from, and why UK SMEs still run it

OpenText GroupWise is the long-running email, calendar and collaboration platform that started life as Novell GroupWise in the early 1990s. After a chain of ownership changes — Attachmate, then Micro Focus, then OpenText, which acquired Micro Focus in 2023 — it is still in active development. The current quarterly release is version 24.3, with 24.4 close behind, and version 23.4 sitting on the long-term support (LTS) track. For UK SMEs that still run GroupWise in 2026, the platform is alive, supported and not being turned off any time soon.

What GroupWise actually is

At its core GroupWise is a messaging system: email, calendar, contacts, tasks and shared folders, served by a Post Office Agent, a gateway (GWIA) for SMTP, and a Web Access component for browser clients. It runs on Linux or Windows, traditionally on top of Novell Open Enterprise Server (now OpenText eDirectory), and it holds its own against Exchange and its cloud successors on the basics — reliable email delivery, sensible calendaring, long-term on-premise stability and no per-seat cloud bill. The platform is mature, well-documented and considerably less resource-hungry than the cloud equivalents for organisations that already have the skills to run it.

A short history

• 1990s: Novell GroupWise launches as a companion to NetWare and Novell Directory Services (NDS). Becomes the default workgroup system across thousands of education, government and mid-market sites.
• 2011: Attachmate acquires Novell. GroupWise continues as a core Attachmate product line.
• 2014: Micro Focus acquires Attachmate. The Novell heritage, including GroupWise, becomes part of Micro Focus.
• 2023: OpenText acquires Micro Focus. GroupWise lands inside the OpenText Content Cloud portfolio alongside Information Management, Cybersecurity and other enterprise lines.
• Today: OpenText runs both a quarterly release track (currently 24.3, with 24.4 in late-cycle) and a long-term support track (currently 23.4 LTS), with security updates and bug fixes published on a published cadence.

Where GroupWise still makes sense

Despite the gravitational pull of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, there are still scenarios where GroupWise is the sensible answer. Schools and colleges that have run NetWare or OES for two decades often keep GroupWise because of existing directory structure, predictable cost, and the ability to host it on hardware they already own. Small legal and accounting firms with poor internet connections value the on-premise model because email keeps working when the WAN does not. Government and defence-adjacent sites with strict data-residency rules use GroupWise because the data stays inside their own datacentre. None of these are particularly fashionable reasons to choose a platform, but they are real reasons and they keep showing up in actual buying decisions.

Where it shows its age

The honest list of weaknesses: the native GroupWise Windows client is no longer the default for most users, who now use the Web Access interface or third-party clients. Mobile clients have improved over the years but they are still behind Outlook and Gmail in polish and reliability. The integration story with modern SaaS — SSO providers, SIEM tools, conditional access, modern MFA — is workable but not first-class. If your business is buying AI features, browser-based productivity suites and SaaS integrations in 2026, GroupWise will be forever in catch-up mode. For most SMEs the question is therefore not "is GroupWise good?" — it is "for how much longer is on-premise messaging the right shape for us?"

What to do if you still run it

• Get onto a supported release. Running 18.x or earlier is the single biggest risk we see on GroupWise estates today.
• Decide deliberately between the LTS track (23.4) and the quarterly track. LTS trades newer features for longer patch windows and fewer mandatory upgrades.
• Sort out identity. If your GroupWise still authenticates against an old eDirectory tree that no-one understands, that is your single biggest operational risk.
• Document the disaster-recovery story. Most ageing GroupWise estates we visit have a backup that has not been restored in five years and a recovery time that nobody has actually measured.
• Have a written migration plan, even if you do not act on it. Knowing how you would move off, and roughly what it would cost, is the difference between a deliberate decision and a forced one.

OpenText is committed to the product and the roadmap is active, but no on-premise messaging platform is a permanent decision in 2026. If you would like an independent review of where your GroupWise estate sits on that lifecycle, get in touch for a short, practical conversation.