Posts Tagged 'ibm'



Understanding Lotus Connections – CIO.com

Good thing I started reading C.G Lynch on CIO.com, and RSSed his blog.

Late May, C.G. wrote an excellent article in CIO.com, Understanding Lotus Connections, IBM’s version of Web 2.0 for the Enterprise. In the article C.G. points out the different approaches Microsoft and IBM are taking when developing enterprise social software solution, and why IBM’s approach is better:

IBM has taken a different approach than Microsoft. It got really serious about making their social software tools usable and easy on the eyes, which says a lot in a facet of technology where consumers (closely followed by start-up vendors) set the pace of innovation.

The article also quotes analysts from Forrester Research and Yankee Group, as well as Jeff Schick, IBM VP, Social Software:

“We see SaaS as a substantial initiative with IBM,” Schick says. “We’re in beta and focusing on it. We envision it for small and medium businesses, but also at the department level of enterprises.”

Lotus Connections is also pointing out the future of social software – mobile:

Last week, at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, Research in Motion (RIM) and IBM announced that Connections would be available on BlackBerry devices. Now, employees can connect with their colleagues while on the road.

and Jeff Schick added:

“We’re working with quite a few mobile platforms,” he says. “It [partnership with RIM] has been a whirlwind success, but we’re not planning to stop there.”

Link: CIO.com – Understanding Lotus Connections – IBM’s version of Web 2.0 for the Enterprise

Empowering your workforce, browser only

Earlier this week I met with Menora Insurnace, one of the largest insurance groups in Israel, founded in 1935.
Menora are a veteran customer of Lotus collaboration solutions, featuring Lotus Notes for messaging, Lotus Sametime for instant messaging, Lotus Quickr for team collaboration and WebSphere Portal as their one-stop-shop for doing business, both internal and external.

Arjan Radder and myself met our colleagues at Menora to discuss how they can leverage their existing investments in Lotus solutions, and explore new growth engines for Menora and its customers through implementing social software solutions, such as a blogging platform, or social bookmarking service.

Menora employees are working out of their browsers, no client involved.
Their internal portal uses single sign-on to identify and authenticate the user, which in turn presents a unique homepage for each user, based on his/her permissions and preferences.
Their messaging platform is incorporated within the homepage, and they can access their inbox, calendar, address book and composite applications in a click of a mouse.

I’m always amazed to see the breadth of approaches customers take with their Lotus solutions. Building everything around the internal portal is an innovative concept, but in a SaaS (Software as a Service) era, putting everything online (behind the firewall of course) is the way to go.

You can read additional case studies here.

Lotus Notes 8.0.1 available in Hebrew

Lotus Notes 8.0.1 is now available in Hebrew.
Eligible customers can download the software from Passport Advantage.

You all know the solution, but still, some of the version’s latest features includes:

  • Deployment enhancements to Lotus Domino that enable administrators to free up time and focus on other areas.
  • A new mode for Lotus Domino Web Access optimized for bandwidth. It addresses the needs of users who are traveling or are constrained with dial-up connections.
  • Linked to other components of the Lotus portfolio including integration with IBM Lotus Quickr, IBM Lotus Connections, increased support for IBM Lotus Sametime® 8.0 (includes Lotus Sametime Unyte).
  • Greater extensibility through Lotus Notes Widgets.
  • Support for Citrix Presentation Server 4.5.
  • Database compression, which significantly reduces the storage size of Domino databases.
  • Domino 64-bit native support option for Microsoft® Windows 2003 and IBM AIX® platforms. 64 bit support enables Domino to address more memory on the server than is possible in previous versions.
  • Support for FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) 140-2 standards encryption for Lotus Notes e-mail.
  • New mobile access options for users of Lotus Notes and Domino 8.0.1

You can read the full announcement, Ed Brill’s post or head over to ibm.com/lotus .

Sharepoint integrator from Mainsoft

Mainsoft announced yesterday of a new solution, Sharepoint Integrator for Lotus Notes (free 30-day trial), that enables Lotus Notes users to access Sharepoint content, via an Eclipse plug-in, at Notes 8 sidebar. You can download the solution sheet (PDF file) or watch a demo (WMV file).

The new integrator was previewed at Lotusphere 2008 in Orlando back in January, and Ed Brill already managed to talk about it, on his way to Turkey, couple of hours before the announcement.

Many companies are using Sharepoint Server as ‘content repository’ to store files, but still want to enjoy the benefits of Lotus Notes as a platform, and not ‘just’ another messaging application. This new Sharepoint Integrator for Lotus Notes provides just that. You can keep your Sharepoint content and work with it, inside your Lotus Notes client. For the Israeli market this announcement is big news, since many customers are using Sharepoint Server to store/share files, but are looking at Lotus Notes as a collaboration platform. [click the image for a larger format]

Excerpt from eWeek:

Mainsoft is essentially cozying up to Notes users by letting Notes and SharePoint content coexist, Mainsoft CEO Yaacov Cohen told eWEEK.

“Customers are sick of all these migrations,” Cohen said. “Customers are saying, ‘Show me how I can leverage what I’ve already purchased.'”

Some features of the SharePoint Integrator, which Cohen demoed for eWEEK May 6, include the ability to drag and drop Word documents, Excel worksheets and PowerPoint presentations from a Notes sidebar into Lotus Notes e-mails, calendar appointments and task lists. This is extremely useful for Notes users who need to make SharePoint files actionable through Notes.

Working at IBM

Lost my IBM badge this morning at a customer. I don’t want to imagine the process involved in issuing a new badge. Gave the security girl my business card, just in case some gentle soul finds my badge. There’s an advantage/disadvantage to this:
The advantage:
I can put a new picture ! The current one is 7 years old.. I’m looking much better now 🙂

The disadvantage:
Hope I won’t ran into a dude at a dark alley (click for a better resolution)..

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Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.