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In 1996, when the founders of Traction Software began development of what would become TeamPage, the company's flagship program, the idea of an enterprise blog didn't even exist. Back then, they were simply trying to create a secure, robust, and efficient way for team members to communicate.

TeamPage finally debuted in 2002, and version 3.6 was recently released, bringing with it new features that let users communicate more effectively. If you've never experienced TeamPage, it lets you create online blog spaces and control who can see messages or responses on a forum or message basis. Its outstanding security and control features have earned it customers in government and enterprise. Because these blog spaces can be open to visitors, it's also useful for companies that work with outside clients.

TeamPage is a hosted solution and it works entirely through the browser, so your team members won't need special software. The controls are easy enough for even senior management to understand. Create one space for your team or many spaces for a variety of projects. On-screen controls let you start a discussion or respond to other people's posts. Once you've created a post, you can dictate what teams should be able to view it.

By default, all TeamPage users get a daily newsletter showing them all the discussions and posts that apply to them. Members can go to their preferences to stop this newsletter if they don't need it, or increase the number of times per day that they get it. It's a quick snapshot of all the activity in the organization that relates to you.

When you're ready to respond to a posting in TeamPage, you simply click for a text input field under that message. The text box appears without the page refreshing, which makes the program much faster to use. New to version 3.6, the text input field now offers rich text options, so you can make words bold, italicize them, or more, all to make your message stand out.

Also new to version 3.6 is an RSS feed reader, letting you easily add RSS feeds to your TeamPage pages. Create links to RSS feeds that deal with your industry and your stops to TeamPage become more information-packed than before. You'll also get hybrid authentication with 3.6, via multiple directory servers including LDAP, Active Directory, and Traction's own directory.

The new version also lets you e-mail articles directly from TeamPage, so that you don't need to bother with cutting and pasting. And if you e-mail to the same accounts regularly, you'll appreciate the new e-mail address completion functionality. Finally, you can blog while on the go, since 3.6 has added support for camera phone entry. Snap pictures while on a work trip and instantly add them to your home office's TeamPage site, so that everyone can see what you're seeing.

Pricing for TeamPage starts at $10,000 for the TeamPage Server and $125 per named user account (visitors to your TeamPage pages are free). If that's too steep for your organization, you can try the company's entry-level Communicator product, which sells for only $249, but restricts you to three projects and two named accounts. One step higher is TeamPage 15, which sells for $5,000 and limits you to five projects and 15 users. They all offer the same functionality, so whichever one you choose you'll be getting an excellent way to exchange information and stay in touch with other team members.

Traction TeamPage's new rich text options make it easy to format comments.