Last month, IBM revealed that everything that’s left of Lotus – including Lotus Notes, Domino, and Portal – will be sold to India-based company HCL technologies, in a deal worth $1.8 billion. And the reason behind their decision was rather simple: even with some big investments, platforms like Lotus Notes will still lack a lot of the features that are nowadays present in modern enterprise content management systems, as well as content services platforms.

However, it’s worth mentioning that Lotus Notes, for example, was designed in a different era, so the only way to compete with the functionality of newer enterprise content management systems or content services platforms would’ve been to come with something completely new, but use the same name. Still, this requires big investments, which can be intimidating, even for successful companies.

Ok, so what’s next for users?

Technically, there is some good news! It appears that HCL Technologies is planning to invest into Lotus Notes more than IBM did, as soon as some of its biggest issues will be solved. In this case, users who remain faithful have a limited number of options at the moment.

Wait until the transition is complete

It is still unknown what are HCL Technologies’ exact plans for Lotus Notes, but they will definitely put some money into it. In this case, users can choose to stick it out. Sure, there will be some bumps along the road, but there’s no way HCL will abandon the project.

At the moment, since there is no backing from IBM, a lot of developers might feel like abandoning everything, creating a sizeable maintenance risk, but we can’t say that this was unexpected.

Switch to another on-premise Document Management System

If you’ve been using Notes for some time but don’t trust HCL’s abilities to take over the management, it’s obvious that you will start looking for another option. And this is what a lot of people will probably do, as they will want a newer and more modern on-premise document management system.

Sure, this can be a big undertaking, as it presumes migrating files. Still, it will also help minimize any disruptions or service gaps, not to mention that it can provide additional capabilities that the ones currently available with Lotus Notes.

Move files to a cloud-based Content Services Platform

Considering that cloud-based content services platforms, as well as ECMs are very easy to adopt, thanks to the significant advances in cloud software technology and infrastructure, this can be a viable solution for any Lotus Notes users. Still, before doing this, they need to make sure that their platform of choice can meet the same requirements.

The differences between most cloud-based ECMs and Lotus Notes are significant, so long-time users can even have a shock at first. On the other side, they have significantly smaller infrastructure requirements, not to mention that they are cheaper to implement.

To wrap it up, after IBM’s sale of Notes, a lot of users will consider enterprise software options, as well as their long-term content management strategies. On the other side, if you decide to stick to it, you can always use professional help, no matter what kind of service you need.

Since 1996, IB Systems has been an IBM Business Partners, able to provide custom apps for any business, as well as administration or support for Lotus Notes and Domino. Whatever you need, their experience allows them to help!

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with Lotus Notes, it’s mainly an environment for messaging and app development, acquired by IBM for a then-record fee of $3 billion. In the meantime, the original Notes platform was rebranded as Domino, while the actual Notes name was kept for the client. However, as soon as Microsoft’s Outlook was introduced, the enthusiasm around Domino faded.

Back to the present days, there is a whole new roadmap now, promising to deliver a new version of Lotus Notes in 2018, as well as another one in 2019. As for the one we’re getting soon, it’s absolutely loaded with goodies!

Over the past weeks, the IBM staff toured across Asia, explaining crowds what they should expect from Domino 10, currently available as a closed Beta. And since you’re all looking forward to knowing when it will go live, IBM collaboration executive Mat Newman revealed that a second beta will be available by the end of July 2018.

Specifically, this beta will offer the possibility to test Domino (for Windows and Linux), the Notes client (for Windows and Mac), Notes, Designer and Admin clients (for Windows), Verse on Premises (for Windows and Linux) and, finally, the DominoDB NPM package for Node.js.

Obviously, the latter is the most important item, considering that one of the main reasons why Lotus Notes didn’t manage to “shine” was because the development environment was pretty much a silo. Therefore, integrating Node.js will transform it and give users the possibility to come up with more modern and portable apps.

But this is not everything…

Verse on Premises is another thing we’re looking forward to, as it’s considered IBM’s attempt at creating a new and sleek collaboration tool that relies on analytics to help discover the messages that need attention.

Besides this, we’re also waiting to see IBM’s multimedia and instant messaging collaboration tool, expected by Domino shops who just don’t want to be left behind by Slack or Microsoft Team users.

Finally, we should mention the fact that there are actually way more features to be launched with this new version, including tablet support, Docker images, as well as telemetry readable by New Relic. All these can take Lotus Notes to the same level as many other modern applications.

As for Domino 11, it’s expected to make its debut in 2019, promising to bring a low-code development environment, similar to what Oracle, Salesforce and ServiceNow are already doing.

IB Systems USA, Florida’s sole IBM Lotus Foundations business partner, will be among the first to make use of the new and improved platform. Providing consulting services in IBM Lotus Notes and Domino technology since 1994, they can provide all the help you need to integrate the new version into your business.

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For the last five years, IBM’s Domino client-server platform seemed forgotten by developers and everybody else, as there was no major release since 9.0 Social Edition. There were a few minor updates, however, broken down into feature packs and interim features, but nothing else able to make its users stick to it. And when they thought that it’s all over, something surprising happened!

Domino’s both development and support business was bought by Indian service company HCL, currently looking forward to building its own enterprise software business. As a side note, they have already acquired multiple IBM products as well, from which we mention Informix or the Rational portfolio. As for Domino, it’s expected to receive a well-needed breath of fresh air.

After the deal was completed, 300+ developers, as well as specialists, moved from IBM to HCL, not to mention that the company is planning to bring new members to its team.

Even more, they have made a couple of very important additions, like Jason Gary, a developer slowed down by IBM management in the past, who was appointed as Chief Technology Officer, and Richard Jefts, as general manager and vice president of Collaborative Workflow Platforms.

The two, alongside IBM offering manager Andrew Manby and worldwide sales responsible Uffe Sorensen recently gave an interview for Heise Online, talking about the company’s plans for the near future.

They managed to cover the platform’s strengths and minuses, but also the prospect of releasing a new version this fall – 10 -, while 2019 should bring us version 11.

Shortly after HCL managed to prove that Domino is back in the lead, the entire team decided that it’s time to actually start business again. Jason Gary is now planning to run it into multiple containers, so that specific, individual parts of it can be outsourced as open source, while other parts will be added in time. And this is not everything!

The plan is to also rewrite and modernize all their application development tools, so they can allow apps to be re-engineered by users. The existing Domino Designer can be considered overloaded, as not even the most experienced developers can be expected.

Finally, Domino will eventually be extended by Node.js, allowing Javascript applications based on Domino to run.

India-based HCL announced that they will prioritize customer requirements using the so-called # domino2025 jams. As a side note, in the past, Domino was pushed through by special requirements of some key accounts with a corresponding pressure on the sellers, but from now on, things will change.

HCL wants to listen to all customers, in order to prioritize the new features. In this direction, the first round of jams took place in December 2017, while the next one is scheduled for the fall.

Sure, there are a lot of plans right now and everybody seems enthusiastic, as the team is hungry for success and want to bring the old Lotus Notes – even though it has a new name – back to live again. But this won’t be easy, as their main mission will be to convince the customers that after a long waiting period, they can once again rely on the client. Also, the big test will happen after sales stabilize, as they’re looking forward to seeing if customers will write new applications with Domino again.

Ever since 1996, IB Systems has been an IBM Business Partner, offering a range of computer support services for IBM and both Lotus existing users and those new to these products. Thanks to their expertise, the company can offer custom Lotus Notes support and development, as well as installation guidance and many more.

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The minutes of the conclaves that witnessed the congregation of about 2000 people coupled with findings of the experimentations in the lab were shared with loyal customers and users of Lotus Notes. The idea conveyed to the faithful users was that HCL as well as IBM strongly felt that Notes was poised for a comeback and retrieve its lost glory. Both conglomerates were of the opinion that the application portfolio, following a revamp, would once again come in handy for solving teamwork-oriented business problems.

Company executives of Big Blue and HCL revealed that the 10th edition of Lotus Notes which will be unveiled sometime in 2018 will mark the beginning step in achieving the above goal. Participants in a particular webinar were informed that the 11th version of the software was already in the planning stages. The firms also announced that they had a lot of catching up to do before the ultimate objective could be on the path of realization.

Webinar attendees were updated that version 10 was actually the first step in the strategy or tactical approach undertaken to make the ‘Domino 2025’ groupware fully operational. ‘Domino 2025’ was expected to offer users an unprecedented and unparalleled first-rate mailing experience. Technicians are also working on making Notes fully compatible with mobile devices, for customized apps as well as mails. Making the application suitable for chats across the net and loading an intuitive team calendar were also on the cards.

Users have been also been updated on arrangements on releasing the apps and about plans on developing apps exclusively for iPads. Attendees who attended the conferences organized in different venues had forwarded their pleas for enhancing scalability of the applications portfolio. Therefore, the professionals now have one more aspect to fine-tune and they will soon be taking this up as well.

Web designers and developers have been assured that they might be able to carry out operations in JavaScript, node JS and other state-of-the- art systems that take advantage of the open-source ecosystem. Soothing APIs are also in the pipeline with information deliverance to both SaaS (software as a service) and enterprise application software. All these big promises make it look as if Lotus Notes will be perfectly in tune with contemporaneity instead of simply tending to be a forward leap.

However that quantum jump to modernity is not happening anytime now and will have to wait till the version 11 of Notes is released. Version 11 has all the trappings of a modern-day application software-artificial intelligence, analytics, and machine-learning framework and interface. Spokespersons of IBM notified about database innovation-the Notes Storage Facility (NSF) database which was regarded as the authentic NoSQL database were considered amenable for innovation. Users have also been given word that they may be able to witness more specifics of Notes 10 in the upcoming IBM Think Conference that was scheduled to be held in the US. The users will also be kept informed about further revelations throughout the year. Although a release or launch date for the Notes 10 is yet to be finalized and/or announced, users in a webinar were requested to offer their opinion on the Q3 releases.

IB Systems, Inc. has over 20 years of experience in support and maintenance of Lotus Notes application and can assist you with any support and maintenance needs. Visit their website if you need to setup a free consultation.

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The outsourcing of the innovation and marketing of Domino/Lotus Notes has made a noticeable and palpable difference, as the clamoring users must have figured out. The mood in a webcast related to the future course of the longstanding computerized program, organized in the bygone week, was definitely upbeat. Participants in the webcast felt the vibes of a product that was on a comeback trail. Financial investments and unprecedented progress on the innovation front made the participants feel as if a phoenix was rising from the ashes.

Although there is still a lot of ground that has to be covered, but one thing is sure. Lotus Notes in its present avatar can only march onward. Kim Greene, a consultant who has been in this domain for long as one can remember, strongly felt that Domino, after a long time, was being showered with the attention it deserved. The community that had been unflinching adherents of this software application was finally being heard. He added that a change in management was long overdue in the Domino setting and it was ultimately taking roots.

Kim Green has been with Domino through thick and thin and witnessed the ups and downs of IBM i shops which heavily invested in the brand that was originally known as Lotus Notes. He went on to iterate that the deal with HCL has proven to be remarkably effective as of now, and will surely turn out to be an incredibly crucial in the near future. He was of the opinion that had IBM dragged its foot on the pact, the product surely would have become extinct. HCL was handed over the responsibility to oversee the development of the entire product package of the technological behemoth 4 months back.

HCL was successful in stepping up the momentum, thanks to the retention of the hub of product developers. A release of Domino v10 is scheduled towards the latter part of the year, most probably in the third quarter and so things have to be paced up pretty fast. Last week’s webcast gave a sneak peek of the achievements of the development team and how the accomplishments will appear on the roadmap in the long run.

Fast-paced development is the order of the day and that entails exposing codes and experimenting with betas and prebetas complete with accompanying feedbacks, adjustments, and tweaks. Viewing from a technical standpoint, the executives has emphasized development on framework and state-of-the-art tools, doing away with conventional limitations, and stepping up core performance. A sequence of Domino Jams were held towards the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, where approximately 22,000 users came together to voice their opinions regarding upgrading the product. It is the incorporation of those feedbacks that facilitated the emergence of a crystal clear roadmap and product vision.

Users may also experience enhanced compatibility of Node.js and JavaScript with application development. This will evidently be an initial move towards giving weightage to smartphone applications and open standards. Priority will be accorded to the development of apps that will compliable for using on mobile gadgets. V10 Domino is being looked upon as the first installment as far as the future development course of Lotus Notes is concerned.

iBSi is an IT and online marketing firm based in Clearwater, Florida that can offer full-scale support on Lotus Notes and Domino applications to those who wish to take advantage of the same.

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Introducing HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies isn’t a new company for IBM. They’ve partnered together in 2016 while working on Rational and Tivoli products. Now they’re working together to unveil the Domino 2025 Jam in hopes of getting feedback and suggestions that will help shape their portfolio in the future. They’ll do this by hosting interactive face-to-face workshops throughout the world, as well as user groups and on-demand meetings. All of this will increase their client base and help the companies know what features and updates they want.

Why This Project is Important

Microsoft and Google dominate today’s email market, but HCL dominates the low code application development market. HCL is hoping it can create a platform that would give Microsoft and Google a run for their money. This is important because what Lotus Notes did a decade ago isn’t replicated by any of these products today. However, if this project is to succeed, the ecosystem is the key here.

Important parts of this ecosystem include:
• IBM and HCL need to view each other as business partners, which means that they’re equals. They need to make each other feel like they’re a valuable part of this collaboration by rewarding one another appropriately.
• Both companies need to realize that it’s not enough to design a stand-alone platform, regardless of how good it is or even if it’s the best one on the market today. Unless the software has deep, third-party integration with those business applications that are already in use, the software won’t succeed. There’s simply way too much competition in this regard. As such, the companies can’t overlook what their competitors are already doing.
• IBM and HCL must work together to support their developers – both online and in person. Things like example applications, sample codes, documentation, and certification all need to be included here whether the support is in the form of a forum or live event. They also must encompass all sizes – from large, official conferences, to small local and industry centered events. These can’t just be for their developers either. Customers want in on big action instead of feeling like they’re a “final thought.”

What Lotus Notes Will Do

This platform includes some features that other similar platforms don’t have. These are things businesses don’t just find helpful, they find them necessary today. This includes things like instant messaging, cloud availability, and integrating a mail client with a database in the front end.

All of these things make Lotus Notes lighter and easier to use. This is especially true when you want to use its powerful mail and calendar – something hundreds of companies are seamlessly integrating into their company today.

What the Future Holds

As IBM works together with HCL their software won’t just be available to more people, it will also cost less and work faster too. So, while many people are still using Lotus Notes, it does need to catch up with today’s technological needs so that it can dominate again. This is something many people believe it will do in the near future. So, when your business is ready to start using this program and you find yourself in need of help and support, we invite you to contact us at IB Systems USA. We’re there when you need the help the most.

Image credit: geralt

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While Lotus Notes had and still continues to develop many great perks and updates as a product, it is also considerably “outdated” in the sense that it remains comparably bulky in comparison to more modern, similar purpose applications, server database collection, hosting and email migration tools.

However, given the development, popularity, and much smaller size, yet convenience of application and wide range use capabilities of services like Joomla, WordPress, and other competing publishing services many have strayed away from Lotus Notes, are in the process of acquiring professionals through outsourcing to do so, or more than likely wish they could.

Likewise, those that wish to maximize their business and communications while building collaborative apps effectively more frequently rely on platform services like SharePoint, Salesforce, and other major database publishing, app development, and specialized tools and services – a place that perhaps Lotus Notes lack. That is, as today’s modern market has so many major companies with comparably faster services, more specialized support, design, tools, and resources that in a lot of ways IBM or Lotus Notes will inevitably become a thing of the past.

Many current customers and consumers alike would most likely agree that a big reason more companies have not shifted away from Lotus Notes is because of the required manpower, work, and costs associated with such – the larger the company the more the cost for such migration.

However, it is worth pointing out that thanks to Lotus Notes being run by IBM that Lotus Notes support does have a solid reputation, and may very well be a contributor to why customers stick around. This, and likely because so many (now major million dollars) company’s personnel and customers have grown used to the way their current systems work, how they sync apps for communications, and how their database is both maintained and developed along with a company’s growth.

In some ways, the Lotus Notes product – albeit a bit on the pricey end – is a combined way for businesses to keep all of their data, communications technology, and security in one place while being easily accessible by designated personnel and kept secure. Even in consideration of the price of comparable products, many major organizations and businesses that use Lotus Notes may continue using this product because outsourcing their database, financial, private data, and relying on a new company to do such is just not a risk they are willing to take as of yet – or until a more competitive product and reputable product that perhaps also offers free migration services comes along.

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The email skirmishes of the 1990s

If you kept yourself in the loop about the email conflicts of the 1990s, you must have lapped up the aggressive conflicts between the IT behemoths for dominating the electronic mail territory. Microsoft’s Outlook which was innovated by a team that upstaged the unit overseeing the development of Exchange was nearly on the brink of being discarded. Outlook was on the way of meeting the same fate as Chrome effects that sunk without a trace.

IBM had taken over Lotus and could have edged past Microsoft with Lotus Notes but GE’s Forced Ranking employee ranking methodology spoiled the show. Microsoft’s top management, either fortuitously or by design, did not introduce Forced Ranking and thus Exchange was spared from being sidelined, and you know what happened eventually.

Dominance can be heady and can backfire

That you need to adapt with the times and periodically reinvent yourself doesn’t apply more than in the world of information technology. You cannot afford to rest on your laurels and Microsoft surely was on its feet right from the 1990s through to the time it drove Netscape out of the market by unethically bundling IE with Windows. Microsoft was so smug with IE that even misfires of some Window releases could not help it shake free from its overconfidence that the browser will dominate smartphones. Windows looked good on desktops and laptops but were elbowed out by Apple, Google, and Amazon when it came to interfacing with tablets and smartphones.

However, Microsoft continued to dominate the email scene with Exchange as it received an impetus courtesy the plethora of open-source platforms ensuring that Gmail kept occupying the maximum consumer space. Even entrepreneurs and business organizations persisted with their use of Exchange as the preferred commercial email platform despite the fact that Outlook remained static and looked pretty much the same as it did in the nineties.

IBM is poised for a comeback with Verse

The rumor mills are agog with buzzes that IBM can pose a serious challenge to Exchange with its Verse offering. And to up the ante against Microsoft, it has entered into a tactical alliance with Apple to shore up its marketing arm and add teeth to this department. IBM has seen to it that Verse is unmistakably user-focused and done away with the antiquated LIFO (last in first out) email supervision system. Verse places the user at the nerve-center of attention by adding layers or stratum with respect to perceptive computing in order to mechanize greater part of the emailing process as well as immunizing the user from committing project inhibiting or career damaging gaffes.

Appropriate utilization of Verse will mean a self-developing and correcting email assuring the writer that there are no grammatical or spelling errors. Additionally, the offering ensures that even the email’s intonation is relevant. The editions of Verse in the future will allow the user to concentrate on messages that demand his or immediate attention as the version will come with add-ons that’ll help in responding to routine questions that are sent via emails and instant messages. What IBM now needs is a CEO who has to be more user-directed to make Verse more user-intensive.

Picture Credit : Peggy Marco             

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What triggered my few nostalgic thoughts about Lotus Notes this evening was a blog post published in Nevermind.dk  “Lotus Notes and Domino have been able to survive for 20 years, how?”.

Once well known as Lotus Notes, a widely popular collaboration and email platform has been experiencing tough times during the past few years. It seems that IBM has given up on Notes as an email platform while the entire world is going totally Microsoft. Perhaps Microsoft Outlook is not as bad as it has been portrayed by anti-Microsoft followers (I have got to admit once I was in that camp).  I really hoped that LotusLive, a new alternative to Microsoft Cloud will gain a momentum as greatly advanced social collaboration email cloud platform . But again, the lack of marketing to the small and medium size businesses makes this great product invisible to the most of the world.

Most of the small business companies have never even tried to discover Lotus Notes as an email platform even when Notes was extremely hot in 1995-1999. However many corporate clients have adapted Lotus Notes as a collaboration and an email system at that time. That was the best time for Lotus Notes and Lotus Notes specialists.  Nothing lasts forever and Notes was not an exception. In fact, in the beginning of 2000 the process of migration off Notes email system to Exchange/Outlook has slowly started.

I have been personally working with Notes and Domino since 1991 which is about 20 years. I just realized that’s 2 decades I have been developing and managing application development on the Notes and Domino platform. Based on my experience 4 out of 5 companies I have worked with had already migrated off Notes email system. What’s next for Notes?

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• Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.3 includes entitlement to the IBM Connections files and profiles components adding significant capabilities to help clients become a social business
• Enhanced new mail notification which optionally provides a pop up preview (containing both sender and subject) of new mail messages as they arrive.
• Improved sorting on email subject content that ignores the “Re:” and “Fw:” prefix, from reply & forward respectively, providing a more accurate sorting of your data.
• A new option to search by sender or subject available when you right click an email.
• Optionally leave countered meetings on your calendar. Allow countered meetings to show up in a unique color, with the time the meeting was originally scheduled for as well as maintaining the ability to act on the original calendar invite and with hover text indicating the new proposed time.
• Optionally notify existing invitees when adding or removing attendees from an existing meeting, informing them of the change and updating the invitee list on their calendar invitation, as well as other options which negate the need for a user to process any meeting updates for anything other than a change in time, eg. a reschedule.
• Significant improvements to recent contacts, allowing end users more control over who gets added to recent contacts and improved data integrity.
• Geographic and time zone information is be displayed in the business card.
• Apple Mac usability improvements for e-mail gestures include the ability to drag one or grouped files to the Lotus Notes icon on your dock, and a new mail message will be created with those files attached.
• Embedded IBM Sametime is upgraded to V8.5.1 with an incremental installer to IBM Sametime 8.5.2, and embedded IBM Lotus Symphony is upgraded to V3.0.
• Additional platform support includes RHEL 6.0 Desktop, Citrix XenApp 6.0, and enhanced 64-bit toleration for Microsoft Windows.
• Added ability to remove signature file from a thread

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