Manx-based software company Canonical has become the first commercial sponsor of a new free software suite which combines common communication technologies.

Known as Unison, the software brings together instant messaging, email, contacts, calendar, telephony and other applications.

It is said to be a free alternative to Microsoft Exchange, and is available for Windows and Linux.

Canonical software produces the free Linux operating system Ubuntu, the second most common version of Linux around the world.

Unison is produced by Russian-based Unison Technologies, but is sponsored by commercial companies and is available from unison.com.