Lotusphere 2005

Sunday 23rd January 2005

So, our first diary entry for Lotusphere 2005! For Pictures there are links on the Right>>

Today was our Business Development day at Lotusphere and is held for IBM Lotus Business Partners.

The intial session covered the big picture for Business Partners and the highlight from Ambuj Goyal, was the state of play with regard to Lotus Notes and Domino. There are several people who have asked me my thoughts on the platform and whether peoples worries and concerns are founded.

Well, I'm happy to say that that Lotus announced they have 118 million users on the Notes Domino software base.

More interestingly and as Basic have noticed recently, the Lotus Software brand has quietly but steadily been taking over numerous Microsoft based sites. Over 5 Million Users have switched just this last year. That's more than the installed base of Notes Domino when IBM first purchased Lotus Development Corp back in July 1995

More history here if you're interested

The other main news, which has been a worry to some, is WORKPLACE. I think I have good news that removes worries and fears that Notes Domino is going to die, and be replaced with some new unknowns....
Well, from not only our Business Development day, but also from the Opening Session, IBM have made it very clear that there is significant life in Notes Domino yet to come. Workplace is a new brand, which sits over and above Notes Domino, Workplace Services Express and Websphere Portal Server and gives "family" positioning to all these new technologies. Workplace, in my intial understanding is a "direction". It will give commonality to the products that will deliver the next level of integration, collaborative working and integrated seemeless information sharing from thick clients (notes) Workplace Client (new!), thin clients (browsers) and other devices.

Just as when Lotus Notes Server became Domino, to demonstrate it's shift and evolvement to include internet technologies, the same thing is occuring today. Notes Domino has been at the forefront of innovation, in sharing information and collaborative working. Workplace is the next technology shift to allow the products to deliver even more. To help people become more productive, accesss and lay out information more effectively and to allow the Notes Domino (and new) products to remain on the cutting edge.

Make no mistake - Notes and Domino is here to stay and from what ive seen in the last 2 days, it's been taking steroids!

As I am in and out of sessions and the very compact timeframe, I hope to have more uploaded shortly, but please bear with me