05
Tue, Nov
5 New Articles
  1. You are here:  
  2. Home
  3. MORE
  4. Social
  5. Collaboration & Messaging
  6. IBM Introduces New Cloud Collaboration Services

IBM Introduces New Cloud Collaboration Services

Collaboration & Messaging
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Users can sign up for free access during a 60-day trial period.

 

IBM is aggressively moving forward with its Lotus-based social networking and collaboration offerings, but it seems the company continues to ignore hundreds of thousands of IBM i customers it apparently believes are fat, dumb, and happy using yesterday's legacy Lotus Notes and Domino solutions.

 

At the Lotusphere 2012 conference, which wrapped up last week in Orlando, Florida, IBM announced it will move its LotusLive hosting service into the SmartCloud family of services so that all its cloud offerings will now be under the same umbrella. Henceforth, LotusLive will now be called SmartCloud for Social Business.

 

In 2011, IBM took social business to the cloud with LotusLive and Symphony, its office productivity suite, being offered as hosted services. This year, IBM is enhancing its cloud-based social business and productivity offerings to include integrated analytics with its social business solution, IBM Connections. Also under the SmartCloud for Social Business moniker are hosted email, instant messaging, business-grade file sharing, online meetings, calendar, and collaborative word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. The latter three are being offered through IBM's new productivity suite, IBM Docs, now in beta and generally available later this year. Authors using IBM Docs will be able to store and share documents in the cloud and co-edit them in real time on either side of the firewall.

 

Meanwhile, on-premise users of Lotus Notes and Domino continue to enjoy social networking components including IBM Connections, Sametime, and Lotus Notes Traveler. At least some Notes and Domino users have these applications available. Others—those running IBM i—apparently do not, at least not natively. This bothers Scotsburn Dairy's Enterprise Systems Manager and MC Press author Steve Pitcher, who decided he would make IBM i users aware that they're being ignored in the social networking arena.

 

Pitcher says IBM has failed to enable IBM Connections, Sametime Media Server (the audio/video component of Sametime), and Lotus Notes Traveler on IBM i, and is doing a disservice to customers of the venerable platform. As a result, Pitcher decided to use social networking techniques to collect online signatures of IT people who want something done about it. So far, he's got signatures from customers, IBM Business Partners, and others representing more than 511,000 potential user licenses. He took that information with him to Lotusphere and presented it to IBM executives; he said they were receptive but wanted to hear his business case for porting the solutions to IBM i.

 

Pitcher says the case is that there are hundreds of thousands of users who would benefit from more flexible organizations, something IBM Connections would help accomplish. Running these applications natively on IBM i, rather than on Windows or Linux servers, avoids complexity and saves hardware, such as routers, switches, and cabling, while helping to eliminate potential points of failure, Pitcher says. Collectively, the three applications provide modern capabilities for social networking, including IP telephony and a pathway to mobile computing. Despite Lotusphere now having ended, Pitcher continues to collect signatures here.

 

Meanwhile, other users who participated in last year's IBM Social Business Jam, a live online discussion engaged in by some 4,000 participants, indicated that social business activities need to be integrated and aligned with business processes to be truly effective. To that end, IBM has also announced a beta of IBM Connections and will launch a new IBM Connections Enterprise Content Edition, the latter being an integrated social content management solution that combines the scalability of social networking with enterprise content management and enhanced workflow, compliance, and control features. It is designed to manage the complete lifecycle of office documents, Web, and social content. It integrates with FileNet content management system as well as with desktop systems, including Notes, Symphony, and Microsoft Office.

 

Also new are two mobile clients, one, a lower-cost program for BlackBerry users to access email in the cloud, and the other, a beta available later this year to support mail, calendaring, and contacts through Notes Traveler on Windows Phone running on top of Nokia and HTC devices.

 

Readers who wish to try IBM SmartCloud for Social Business (still labeled LotusLive for the time being) may do so free for 60 days by simply registering here.

 

 

Chris Smith

Chris Smith was the Senior News Editor at MC Press Online from 2007 to 2012 and was responsible for the news content on the company's Web site. Chris has been writing about the IBM midrange industry since 1992 when he signed on with Duke Communications as West Coast Editor of News 3X/400. With a bachelor's from the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in English and minored in Journalism, and a master's in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Chris later studied computer programming and AS/400 operations at Long Beach City College. An award-winning writer with two Maggie Awards, four business books, and a collection of poetry to his credit, Chris began his newspaper career as a reporter in northern California, later worked as night city editor for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, and went on to edit a national cable television trade magazine. He was Communications Manager for McDonnell Douglas Corp. in Long Beach, Calif., before it merged with Boeing, and oversaw implementation of the company's first IBM desktop publishing system there. An editor for MC Press Online since 2007, Chris has authored some 300 articles on a broad range of topics surrounding the IBM midrange platform that have appeared in the company's eight industry-leading newsletters. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: