Lotus pursues collaboration vision

IBM Lotus Software’s once distant vision of standards-based collaboration is coming into view as the company rolls out products that preserve existing investments while moving toward the future.

At its annual Lotusphere conference in Orlando last week, Lotus detailed the next step in its J2EE-based Workplace strategy: rich-client technology that combines the deployment flexibility of a Web application with the benefits of traditional desktop software.

Built on the Eclipse open source framework, the Workplace Client’s browser-based software adds the rich-client look and feel by tapping an integrated Java data store, dubbed Cloudscape. The Workplace Client allows functions such as offline use and drag and drop.

Ambuj Goyal, general manager of Lotus Software, said IBM plans to extend the reach of Notes and Domino by embedding open standards so that the offerings can be delivered in more environments.

“We need to be able to put new network-based technologies in Notes and in Domino. Notes becomes the client-side portal for Notes users, so it can access applications from Domino, J2EE, WebSphere, and even non-IBM packaged apps,” Goyal said.

At the show, IBM showed a long-term road map, which will allow Notes and Domino users to stay with those products while moving toward open standards.

Release 7, due late this year, will be followed by Notes/Domino 8 in late 2005. Release 8 will allow Domino apps to run unmodified inside Workplace. “They [users] can remain in Notes and Domino and they will get the Workplace technologies,” Goyal said.

One of biggest benefits of Workplace is simplified management, because the client is managed centrally from the server, said David Ferris, president of Ferris Research.