Earlier this month, IBM unveiled several new products for its Lotus Workplace environment. As it did so, the computer giant made some important statements about how Workplace will affect its long-term strategy for Lotus' existing products. IBM also used the announcement to position Workplace as the leading alternative to Microsoft's Office System for boosting the productivity of workgroups and automating their business processes.
In its announcement, IBM unveiled four Workplace modules. Lotus Workplace Messaging provides email, calendar, and contact management capabilities. Lotus Workplace Team Collaboration offers the real-time messaging and Web conferencing functions found in the vendor's Sametime and QuickPlace products. Lotus Workplace Web Content Management manages the deployment of content to Web sites, while Lotus Workplace Collaborative Learning provides e-learning services.
While I will say more about these products in a future article, I want to devote the rest of this column to answering some questions that I am sure many Lotus customers are asking right now. Since Workplace offers the same capabilities as Domino, Notes, and other Lotus products, does IBM intend to drop support for those products? What is IBM's strategy for its workgroup computing solutions?
To answer those questions, let's start by understanding that as IBM sees it, today's Domino/Notes platform is in very much the same position as the iSeries server. Both platforms were pioneers in their ability to integrate a variety of business functions in an elegant fashion. Both platforms gained a loyal following because of these groundbreaking capabilities. However, since both platforms were developed before the emergence of open standards, they use proprietary technologies--such as RPG and Domino's Native Store Facility (NSF)--that limit their flexibility. Both platforms must migrate to industry-standard technologies if they are to integrate with today's distributed object-oriented systems and maintain their relevance.
As a consequence, IBM has adopted a strategy for the Domino/Notes platform that is very similar to its iSeries strategy. It is integrating industry-standard technologies into the platform while pledging to support and enhance the existing Domino/Notes platform for years to come. The new technologies will eventually deliver almost all of the capabilities offered today by the proprietary technologies as well as many additional functions. Over time, customers will be able to incorporate the new technologies into their applications and gradually reduce their dependence on the current Domino/Notes platform.
In short, Lotus Workplace is to Domino/Notes what the iSeries is to the original development and runtime environments of the AS/400. At the user level, Workplace offers all of the functions of Domino/Notes and more. Under the covers, however, it delivers that function via a modernized and open family of technologies. To get a sense of what those technologies are, let's take a closer look at IBM's Workplace strategy. That strategy calls for the following actions on the computer giant's part:
- Replace Domino's proprietary database with DB2. While Domino applications can store data in either DB2 or Domino's NSF, Workplace applications can store data only in DB2. This enables Workplace users to manage both relational and unstructured data under a single database system that any application can access by using industry standards.
- Replicate the functions in today's Lotus server products as modular components that run on WebSphere Application Server. Already, IBM has decomposed most of the functions in Lotus' server applications--including Domino, Sametime, and QuickPlace--and redeployed those functions within the new Workplace modules. These modules use WebSphere Application Server instead of the native Domino application server as their runtime engine. Customers can run their existing Domino applications within a Workplace environment, but they also need to deploy the Domino server within that environment.
- Provide new workgroup computing functions in Workplace that will not be made available in Domino. Over time, IBM and third-party developers will create modules for Workplace that are exclusive to the platform. One example of this is Lotus Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting, a module that IBM codeveloped with KPMG to help companies comply with Sarbanes-Oxley accounting legislation.
- Enable customers to access Workplace modules through multiple clients. Rather than force users of various collaboration clients to dump their familiar interfaces, Workplace offers access through Notes, Microsoft Outlook, and Web browsers. Of course, Notes and Outlook will be able to access only those Workplace functions that their interfaces can support. The only presentation layer that will allow users to access all Workplace functions is IBM's WebSphere Portal Server, where IBM has already created a flexible and highly integrated environment for browser clients. In addition, Lotus is developing a "rich client" for accessing Workplace modules on an offline basis as well as a client for mobile devices.
- Recruit Lotus Business Partners and other developers to build their applications on Workplace. IBM has already signed up over 50 partners to develop and deploy solutions on Workplace. These numbers will undoubtedly grow as the Workplace customer base grows.
As part of this strategy, IBM will continue to support Domino and Notes for many years to come. Customers will have the option to run most or even all of their existing Domino applications on a standalone basis or host them within the Workplace environment. IBM will continue to offer significant if not dramatic enhancements to both Domino and Notes. However, the bulk of the company's development efforts will shift to its Workplace products.
There is much more I could say about Workplace, but I've run out of space for this week. I'll take a closer look at the Workplace product line and its implications for Microsoft in a future article, so stay tuned.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
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