THE Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will embark on an ambitious program to standardize on Microsoft technology by ditching IBM’s Lotus Notes platform.
About 55 outmoded Lotus Notes applications and services, including Notes email, will be replaced. The department would completely migrate to Microsoft Exchange by June 30, 2011, a department spokeswoman said.
The department declined to provide a list of all the legacy applications to be replaced, but she said they covered a wide range of corporate and routine business functions.
“The replacement of Lotus Notes is linked to a decision taken by the department to standardise its ICT platform to Microsoft technologies for operational and efficiency reasons,” the spokeswoman said.
It is understood Microsoft SharePoint 2010 collaboration products could be part of the deployment program. The move means new tools for the department’s 2000 permanent staff, including about 520 people posted overseas at 90 locations.
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