IBM Expands Workplace OfferingsIBM Expands Workplace Offerings

IBM Lotus expanded its lineup of Workplace client-computing software Tuesday, debuting an Express version of the product for small and midsize businesses. The company also announced a new release of its WebSphere Portal software, new vertical-industry Workplace packages, and a hosted version of its Web-conferencing service.

Workplace was designed for deployment within large businesses. IBM Workplace Services Express 2.0 is geared toward small and midsize organizations with 750 to 1,000 users and departments within large organizations. The product, like the Workplace 2.0 main product, offers collaboration, document-management, portal services, and other capabilities.

The Express version includes an "active installer" feature to speed installation and templates for creating composite application services. IBM says it provides direct access to a user's existing applications and data, as well as E-mail, instant messaging, and other collaboration tools. The software will be available in mid-December.

As of September, Workplace was deployed on one million desktops, according to Ambuj Goyal, IBM general manager of workplace, portal, and collaboration software. "That's tremendous growth, but still not fast enough for us," he said during a press conference Tuesday.

WebSphere Portal 5.1, slated for availability Nov. 30, includes a version of Lotus Workplace Web Content Management to deliver up-to-date content to users. IBM Lotus Web Conferencing Service, available next month, is a hosted version of the vendor's Web-conferencing software.

IBM Lotus also unveiled 17 new Workplace packages for more than 30 job functions, such as procurement, financial administration, and human-resource management, in vertical industries including retail, automotive, and health care. Pricing for all the new products will be announced when they become available.