The survey was prompted by the release of Domino 8, the most recent version of IBM's e-mail and collaboration software platform. Domino 8 was widely expected to contain the DB2 connection for i5/OS, a capability initially available for some platforms in Domino 7 and known as NSFDB2. It was expanded to other platforms in Domino 8.
"The message many of our members received from IBM (after the Domino 7 announcement) was that the support would be available in the next release," said Olga Miralles Mulleras, president of COMMON Europe. "We had no indication that IBM's plans had changed." Blog postings from members of the IBM Domino development team seem to indicate IBM has no current plans to ever provide the support for i5/OS.
Survey results from North America indicated 41 percent of COMMON members use Domino systems hosted on i5/OS servers. Nearly three quarters of those organizations (72 percent) stated that IBM's decision will affect their businesses and will have an impact on their use of the Domino platform.
Europe survey results showed than an even higher percentage (58 percent) of COMMON members use Domino on i5/OS servers. All of these organizations (100 percent) said their businesses will be affected by IBM's decision.
Assuming NSFDB2 support is not made available, the actions that member organizations may have to take varies. The highest percentage of respondents (28 percent) indicated they would be forced to move their Domino servers to a different operating system. Nearly as many (25 percent) said that planned development projects would be delayed. Seventeen percent expected that they would be forced to abandon the Domino platform altogether.
"Domino is a key technology for our members," said Randy Dufault, president of COMMON North America, "and the reason for that is their ability to use existing servers for Domino." "We believe i5/OS to be the most stable, most reliable, easiest to manage business operating system available today and those attributes extend to the software that runs on it."
Miralles and Dufault have sent a letter to Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive of IBM's software group, asking that IBM reconsider adding NSFDB2 support for i5/OS to Domino.
COMMON North America and COMMON Europe, through the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) and the COMMON Europe Advisory Council (CEAC) respectively, proactively advocate for the needs of their members to IBM and other vendor organizations. Typically that advocacy, although continuous and extensive, occurs without substantial public notice, the statement said. However, an extremely strong member reaction to the IBM Domino 8 announcement prompted the surveys and the other actions the organizations currently are undertaking.
About COMMON
COMMON is the world's largest user group of midrange IBM and IBM-compatible technology. The organization comprises more than 4,000 individual and corporate members. They represent more than 22,000 IT professionals involved with the IBM System i, OS/400 and related solutions. For more information about COMMON, visit COMMON.
COMMON Europe, a non-profit association of organizations and individuals using IBM midrange architecture and solutions, is an umbrella organization of European national IBM user associations. Its mission is to boost peer networking, provide advanced education and training, spearhead IBM strategy, and accelerate an ongoing open dialogue with IBM in the benefit of its members. For more information about COMMON Europe, visit COMMON Europe.
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