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IBM celebrated the 20th anniversary of Lotus Notes at Lotusphere last week, emphasizing new technologies and capabilities to empower current users rather than rolling out radically new initiatives or products.

The company unveiled Notes and Domino 7, slated to ship this summer, featuring a 70% improvement in server performance. Also debuting were IBM Workplace Collaboration Services, which integrates E-mail, calendaring, instant-messaging, electronic-learning, Web-conferencing, and content-management applications; and IBM Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting, an application-hosting service for managing documents and reports needed for compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

IBM also provided a glimpse of Activity Explorer, which is under development and is expected to provide a common front end for E-mail and instant messaging.