At Lotusphere, IBM and SAP announced plans to deliver a joint software product that will integrate Lotus Notes with SAP Business Suite, while IBM announced plans for a software portfolio expansion geared to the needs of SMB companies.
IBM and SAP AG announced plans to deliver their first joint software product, code named "Atlantic," that will integrate Notes with Business Suite. Atlantic will create a new software product and result in a new style of application that presents information and data in the context of users familiar with the Lotus Notes desktop. This will make it easier for users to do their jobs and greatly enhance the return on investment that companies have made in their SAP applications, the companies said.
Providing workers with access to critical business information in an intuitive, easy-to-use interface is expected to enable timely, more informed business decisions, they said. Most types of employees can benefit from increased business analysis, information capabilities, and the power to run their business operations directly from their Lotus Notes desktops.
"We're creating a richer collaboration environment," said Michael Rhodin, general manager, IBM Lotus Software. "Businesses are looking to find better ways to collaborate and manage their business processes. This IBM-SAP solution addresses both challenges in one seamless package for millions of users."
IBM Lotus and SAP have thousands of mutual customers who have been asking for the functionality that "Atlantic" software will provide. The majority of IBM's top 100 customers also use SAP solutions.
"SAP and IBM Lotus are strategic partners to The Coca-Cola Company," said Jean Michel-Ares, CIO, Coca-Cola Company. "Our IT goal is to help our people to be more responsive, productive, and effective, and SAP and IBM Lotus have helped us get closer to that goal. The partnership between IBM Lotus, SAP and The Coca-Cola Company promises to deliver additional value to our associates and improve the tools they use every day."
"Lotus has been an innovator in collaboration for 20 years. This agreement is great example of how SAP enables our customers to empower their users by providing easy access to SAP business processes and data through productivity tools and user interfaces of their choice," said Vishal Sikka, CTO, SAP. "Furthermore, it reaffirms the strong commitment we have to our partnership with IBM."
For more than 35 years, IBM and SAP have collaborated to bring joint customers cutting-edge solutions to improve business efficiency at more than 13,000 client sites for their millions of users. Currently planned for inclusion in the first release of project "Atlantic" is support for SAP workflows, reporting, and analytics, and the use of roles from within the Lotus Notes client. In addition, tools are planned to be included to provide the ability to extend and adapt these roles and capabilities, as well as leverage additional collaborative and offline capabilities inherent in Lotus Notes and Domino products. The initial release is planned to ship in the fourth quarter of 2008 and will be sold by both companies.
If customization of the product is required, IBM Global Business Services will be available to provide consulting and perform services. SAP practitioners, other global and regional systems integrators will also be enabled to customize "Atlantic" software to meet demand.
IBM Lotus Foundations
IBM Lotus Foundations is a future line of small business software servers, installed on-premise, and is expected to be offered primarily through IBM Business Partners. In addition, IBM announced a managed beta of a Web-delivered service code named "Bluehouse." "Bluehouse" provides extranet services that make it easy for small-and- medium sized companies to securely collaborate beyond their organizational boundaries.
The combination of Lotus Foundations and "Bluehouse" will provide essential software solutions in simple-to-acquire-and-manage packages. Small-and-medium sized businesses (SMBs) need superior collaboration and business solutions as much as large companies. With Lotus Foundations and Bluehouse, used separately or in combination, organizations will be able to take advantage of proven enterprise-strength software delivered as a turnkey package for start-up businesses without IT staff.
"Small-and-medium sized business represents a significant growth opportunity for IBM," said Mike Rhodin, general manager, IBM Lotus Software. "Our SMB approach, which combines easy-to-deploy, self-managed on premise servers with Web-delivered, extranet collaboration services, uniquely empowers SMBs to succeed in any market."
Based on Linux, IBM Lotus Foundations is expected to provide server software that requires minimal technical expertise and is autonomic-able to manage and heal itself. This will allow small-and-medium sized companies to focus on their business, rather than spending time and resources managing information technology. Lotus Foundations will be built on the principles of IBM's Express Advantage program for small and medium business such as ease-of-installation and ease-of-use.
The first component of the Lotus Foundations family is currently expected to include a pre-loaded, one-stop-shop solution for small companies: Lotus Domino mail and collaboration platform, file management, directory services, firewall, back-up and recovery, and office productivity tools. Designed to accommodate growth, customers will be able to easily add more users or servers as needed. In addition, as planned, Lotus Foundations will give system integrators and independent software vendors the opportunity to integrate their new or existing applications into the Foundations platform with minimal effort.
A key component of the Lotus Foundations family will be technology acquired through IBM's purchase of Net Integration Technologies, which is expected to close later in the first quarter of 2008, as announced last week. Industry observers have favorably rated the Net Integration Technologies small-business server against Microsoft's Small Business Server. Net Integration Technologies features have consistently received high marks for ease-of-use, installation and disaster recovery. IBM plans to integrate the innovative Net Integration's technology into its Lotus Foundations family of software servers. Lotus Domino is already integrated into the Net Integration platform. IBM's strategies for SMB, collaboration and acquisitions are among the keys to its growth, according to IBM.
"Bluehouse" will offer a suite of collaboration services that allows businesses to work together by sharing contacts, files, project activities and interacting with chat and Web meetings. This new set of services will enable small companies to easily collaborate beyond their organizational boundaries without the need for any in-house technical expertise. "Bluehouse" is now available as a limited beta offering at http://www.bluehouse.lotus.com_/ and will be progressively unveiled throughout the year.
SMBs have the same types of business challenges as large corporations but must solve them with limited or no IT resources. They need to compete globally and they require industry-specific solutions that help them automate, simplify and speed product-to-market cycles.
Consequently, small-medium companies need powerful collaboration and business solutions to allow them to work more easily with their customers and suppliers. These new offerings from IBM Lotus software draw upon 20 years of innovation in collaboration with world-class business expertise and research delivered in a way that is easy to access and use.
This announcement illustrates the future of work and how IBM operates as a globally integrated enterprise in the 21st century workplace. Global integration has become embedded in IBM's workforce, strategy, leadership and operations-affecting how the company collaborates across time zones and cultures and locates its operations, functions and leadership anywhere in the world based on the right skills and business environment. Small and medium businesses are increasingly going global and becoming more competitive through technology. Accessing world-class collaboration is the next step.
About SAP Business Suite
SAP Business Suite is a comprehensive family of adaptive business applications, providing best-in-class functionality built for complete integration, industry-specific capability, unlimited scalability, and easy collaboration over the Internet. Individually, SAP Business Suite applications customers manage their most critical business processes. Collectively, the applications form a tightly integrated suite that adds value to every facet of large and small organizations, including banks, hospitals, retail establishments, government agencies, and a variety of other businesses, and their external value chains.
IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8 enterprise collaboration software was developed with input from more than 25,000 customers. Lotus Notes 8 software transforms the inbox into an integrated workspace. It brings together email, calendar, instant messaging, productivity tools like Lotus Symphony, collaborative applications, and the ability to build and deploy customer business or third-party applications, including help desk, customer relationship management, sales force, discussion forms and blogs. Lotus Notes and Domino products have had approximately 135 million licensed users worldwide. Companies of all sizes, industries and technology lineages are embracing the latest version as the most comprehensive and versatile open collaboration platform they have used. For more information on "Atlantic," visit http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/notes/atlantic For more information on Lotus Notes and Domino products, visit http://www.ibm.com/lotus/nd8 For more information on SAP Business Suite, visit: http://www.sap.com/usa/solutions/business-suite/index.epx.
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software. Today, more than 43,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP applications-from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver technology platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." For additional information, visit http://www.sap.com.
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