Oracle has announced Beehive, a collaboration tool that takes messages from calendars, instant messaging and email and displays them in a unified format.

The tool, which was three years in development, is available now and is described by the company as an open platform that can work with many of the industry's most popular platforms.

"Oracle Beehive is the first truly integrated collaboration platform that understands diverse modes of collaboration through a unified object model," said Terry Olkin, chief architect of Oracle Server Technology.

"Beehive's robust security model, and an open, integrated and extensible set of collaboration services, will transform the way in which organisations collaborate."

The tool works with existing software like Outlook and Thunderbird, but allows diverse teams using a variety of programs to communicate and organise within a new framework without having to rely on a single common application.

"As an organisation working in a global delivery model, we needed an efficient and open collaboration framework between locations and time zones," said Simon Ellis, EMEA director of custom and product development at Calsoft Enterprise and Inatech Solutions.

"Using Oracle Beehive, we improved project delivery efficiency and cut down on communication/travel costs leading to an increased project margin of more than three per cent."

Security is a major part of the Beehive software, which has a series of computer instructions in place to limit the amount of data that can be shared and ensure the integrity of corporate servers.

The software will also work with mobile operating systems such as RIM/BlackBerry, Microsoft Mobile and Apple's iPhone.