Into The Future: Lotus Delivers An Advanced Messaging And Collaboration PlatformInto The Future: Lotus Delivers An Advanced Messaging And Collaboration Platform

IBM Lotus Software has taken the covers off the latest version of its flagship Notes/Domino messaging and collaboration software, and the clear theme is integration of E-mail and instant messaging. Lotus/Domino 6.5 looks to be a crucial bridge between the E-mail legacy of the platform and the IM capabilities of Lotus Sametime, now called Lotus Instant Messaging.

Among the ways Lotus is accomplishing this is to provide an optional interface called Lotus Workplace for Notes that provides a portal-style messaging view that combines E-mail, IM, and other Lotus collaboration features into one window. In the standard view of Notes, the inbox has been enhanced to display presence-awareness icons next to the names of senders, providing a quick indication of their online status. Also, once a user opens a message, the message headers will show the presence not only of the sender, but also of any other recipients who've been copied on the message.

Another interesting feature will let users drag messages from their inboxes into their Lotus calendaring view, allowing them to automatically create calendar items based on messages and automating the scheduling of Web conferences that would bring together all of the recipients of a group message. Lotus also has beefed up its Domino Web Access--formerly called iNotes--to offer all the key features in Notes.

The whole idea of Notes/Domino 6.5, says senior product marketing manager Tim Kounadis, is to move away from collaboration silos. "In the past, we used to think of collaboration in little compartments," he says. "But really, the value of collaboration is realized when you break down those compartment walls."

Radicati Group analyst Genelle Hung says the new Notes/Domino is forward-thinking--maybe too forward-thinking. Hung suggests that Lotus may be getting too far ahead of the market, and that while the new release will be attractive to existing Notes users, it will be a tougher sell to prospects, who tend to be less-sophisticated users. Hung suggests that only the most advanced messaging users can make use of the sophistication Notes 6.5 offers them. "Your general knowledge worker doesn't need all this stuff yet."

Pricing has remained consistent with previous versions. The Domino server line offers three versions: a messaging server starting at $1,145 per processor, an enterprise server starting at $2,964 per processor, and a utility server that runs $15,067 per processor. Notes licenses start at $125 per user, while a license for the Web-access version starts at $62.80. And there's an unusual promotion Lotus is offering customers who purchase 6.5 with a maintenance contract: a free 20-user license for Lotus Instant Messaging, along with one year of maintenance.