IBM Brings Lotus Notes and Domino Software to Full Spectrum of Web Devices

No Charge Option Available to Developers for Domino Designer to Extend Domino Business Applications

ARMONK, NY – October 6, 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a major extension of Lotus Notes and Domino collaboration software for the full spectrum of proliferating mobile and Web-connected devices such as the Apple iPhone, Nokia smartphones, thin clients, laptops and desktops used to access corporate applications and business processes. To spur broader growth of Lotus Notes and Domino applications for the increasingly diverse range of devices in corporate use, for the first time, IBM will make Lotus Domino Designer tools available at no charge.

Lotus Domino 8.5.1 is the first version to natively support the iPhone via Lotus Notes Traveler software. This extends Lotus Domino automatic synching for e-mail, contacts and calendar data to the iPhone, helping address the growing user demand to access Notes and Domino collaboration software on the road. In fact, the IBM Institute for Business Value predicts two billion mobile Web users in the next decade, and a significant shift in the way the majority of people will interact with the Web.

The new features, which include push e-mail, contacts, and calendar, enable iPhone users to work off-line, while allowing confidential data to be erased remotely if an iPhone is lost or stolen. iPhone users can also take advantage of a corporate directory look-up feature which helps them find contact information behind their company firewall.

Updates for the Nokia Symbian platform include remote wipe, device lock, password management and external calendar integration. The IBM software provides all of these capabilities for Windows Mobile devices as well. With the iPhone, Nokia Symbian and Windows Mobile devices, and support for Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry, Lotus Notes and Domino now supports the vast majority of smartphones in the world.

"We are accelerating the delivery of millions of existing Lotus Domino applications to mobile users, and promoting the creation of a variety of new ones to help people work smarter on the go," said Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president, Messaging and Collaboration, IBM. "No charge Domino Designer will make it easier for organizations to adopt, acquire and manage IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software, and proliferate the development of powerful, new business apps for Lotus Notes and Domino."

Several hundred organizations globally have tested the new version of Lotus Notes during the past few months.

"Lotus Notes 8.5.1 is way more than ‘just email.’ It is an amazing piece of software. It helps facilitate a much more integrated work environment and allows our teams to share information wherever they are. During our recent response to H1N1 Influenza, we found having all of our collaboration tools integrated into one application enables our teams to work more effectively and cohesively. Lotus Notes 8.5.1 helps us work together in real time, enabling our employees to connect quicker and solve problems more effectively," said Tim Lorge, Software Architect, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

"We are excited about the release of Lotus Notes 8.5.1, which we're planning to roll out to help improve communications among corporate and retail personnel," said Dale Sinstead, Director, I.T. , Pioneer Petroleums (www.pioneer.ca), Ontario’s largest independent gasoline retailer, which was recently honored for conservation work.

"Prudential UK beta tested this new Lotus Notes and Traveler software; it was quick and easy to download and use on the iPhone," said Neil Davis, Messaging Specialist, Prudential U.K (www.pru.co.uk), a life insurance and pensions provider with nearly seven million customers.

In addition, Lotus Notes Traveler software is also supported by numerous device manufacturers, including Nokia and Samsung. The software also works with carriers such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint.

No Charge Option for Domino Designer Software to Unleash Development of New Business Applications

Domino Designer enables Web developers, students, business analysts and other developers to quickly learn to build and extend existing applications for Notes and Domino. Beginning with version 8.5.1, the software development community can download IBM Lotus Domino Designer via IBM’s developerWorks software Web site, www.ibm.com/developerWorks/downloads.

"Domino Designer 8.5.1 and tools like XPages will make it much simpler and faster for us to create Notes applications," said David Leedy, New Penn Motor Express. A popular Domino Web application development tool, XPages allows IT professionals to create Web 2.0 and a variety of user experiences within their existing applications.

IBM is changing the way it licenses Lotus Domino client software. Users will now be licensed for functional needs rather than client types, with two simple access licenses replacing what were formerly 11 software products.

Domino Designer can help Web developers, students, business analysts and others to quickly develop and use business or productivity applications. These applications can operate within Lotus Domino applications, a browser on a desktop or on a smartphone, as well as directly within the IBM Lotus Notes client. This allows employees to access business information obtained through Notes and Domino, without needing additional software. New developers can join with the existing Lotus application community through OpenNTF.org, an open source organization focused on Lotus Notes and Domino.

"Designer 8.5.1 assists developers in building ubiquitous Web, Notes and mobile access to Domino applications," said Bruce Elgort, Elguji Software. "The new XPages capability allowed me to quickly extend the IdeaJam application out to the Apple iPhone."

IBM Lotus Domino Designer software is based on the Eclipse platform to provide a productive experience for a wide range of business applications. Developers gain a readily-available skill set to support any application strategy. Developers new to Lotus Notes and Domino development can enjoy the familiar look and feel of the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

"The new Domino Designer brings many welcome changes that help us develop software at a more efficient pace," said Corey Davis, founder of IBM Business Partner Conxsys.

"I like that Domino is an open environment based on Eclipse. Offering IBM Designer software for free will help my company help people work better together," Kjetil Andenas, development executive, Symfoni Software, an IBM Business Partner.

Developerworks is an IBM Web site for software developers and IT professionals. It contains how-to articles and tutorials, code samples and software downloads, podcasts, blogs, wikis, discussion forums and other resources. Subjects covered include open, industry-standard technologies such as Ajax, Linux, service oriented architecture, Java, Web services and development, XML and IBM’s software and services products. Launched in 1999, developerWorks serves several million registered users.

More than half of the largest global 100 corporations use IBM’s flagship collaboration offerings, Lotus Notes and Domino. They include the top nine aerospace and defense organizations; the top nine automotive firms; the top eight banks; the top four makers of consumer products; the top seven electronics firms; the top eight insurance companies; the top seven pharmaceutical organizations; and the top nine telecommunications carriers.

IBM also offers hosting services for Lotus Notes Traveler through its Mobile Enterprise Services. For more information on other new Lotus offerings announced today, including new packaging and pricing for IBM Domino Designer 8.5.1, visit www.ibm.com/software/lotus/notesanddomino.

This just in...

ARMONK, NY, September 10, 2009 --- IBM has begun offering Microsoft customers free of charge productivity software that is compatible with popular Microsoft Office formats, and supports a wide range of widgets popularized by consumer Web sites and third parties that extend the functions of Lotus Symphony.

These widgets allow people to tap into everything from Web-based Google Gadgets, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, popular wikis, even Microsoft Sharepoint and MSN from within Symphony. IBM's Lotus Symphony (link) software provides word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations effectively replacing Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Powerpoint.

IBM has added a new feature that allows individuals to easily drag-and-drop widgets into Lotus Symphony, distinguishing it from static office productivity tools such as Microsoft Word. Drag-and-drop also makes Symphony stand out from other Microsoft alternatives, simplifying the use and installalation widgets with just one click. With this drag-and-drop feature, IBM and various third parties including independent software vendors, individual developers, customers and Business Partners are writing a wide range of new widgets for Lotus Symphony.

Widgets extend Symphony's capabilities through the commonly accepted open standards, Eclipse and Java. Due to its cross-platform nature, Symphony's widgets are developed once and run across all three Symphony document, presentation and spreadsheet applications, lowering the cost to bring new capabilities to end users; whereas new applications must be built separately for Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office and Microsoft PowerPoint.

IBM Lotus Symphony leads a growing class of Microsoft Office alternatives, with millions of copies in circulation. The first full version of Symphony appeared on June 3, 2008.

"Today there are more innovative, open alternatives such as Symphony that compare favorably to Microsoft Office," said Bob Picciano, general manager, IBM Lotus Software. "Symphony's open collaboration model can offer businesses limitless options cost-effectively at a time when many organizations are increasingly concerned about investing in Microsoft Office."

New Widgets, New Capabilities

Among the more popular widgets supported for Symphony are cloud-based Google Gadgets such as the Currency Converter Gadget which shows equivalent monetary values; the Unit Converter Gadget which translates units of measurement; and the Wikipedia Gadget that provides instant access to information on Wikipedia, and many others all directly from within Symphony.

IBM also announces the debut of new widgets designed to extend Symphony from office productivity to a more interactive collaboration tool, including:

The Lotus Symphony Learning Widget blends local and cloud-based learning resources at the individual's fingertips inside the product to quickly master the full range of Symphony's capabilities.

• With Team Workspace Widgets, people can access and work with documents from the most popular tools including Microsoft Sharepoint and Lotus Quickr.
• The new ChartShare Widget enables the instant sharing of an individual's screen with from one to 20 people to view a presentation file. To edit and co-create charts, users can launch a Sametime Unyte Live meeting in a single click within Symphony. This widget demonstrates how to seamlessly blend rich client and cloud computing. It also provides presence awareness and instant messaging capability in side shelf for anyone that has been a contributor to the presentation.

Symphony 2 Wiki Widgets are two new widgets that plug into Symphony to create rich wiki content inside of Symphony and convert the content for publishing to wikis such as Confluence Wiki and Mediawiki. Treasure Box allows Symphony to keep on hand links to frequently used documents, graphics and applications and insert them directly into your presentation, for example, without exiting Symphony. This widget essentially makes a "favorites" list right within Symphony for several file types inlcuding presentations, documents, as well as graphics and applications.

The Export Graphic Widget lets users export graphics, shapes, and charts they create in Symphony to files in common formats such as .gif, .jpeg, .png, .bmp helping them save time by re-using their visual creative.

Consumers, students, businesses, governments, universities and non-profits around the world have saved many millions of dollars using IBM Lotus Symphony. While Symphony is free of charge to download and use by consumers and organizations, large businesses can opt to buy contracts for help desk support for a flat fee of just over $26,000 per year which still represents a significant savings over a Microsoft Office licensing agreement. Depending upon environment, Lotus Symphony could save a company millions of dollars in software license fees or software renewal fees.

In its most recently released version, Lotus Symphony 1.3, enhancements were added such as support for Microsoft Office 2007 file formats such as .docx, xlsx, and .pptx which allow most Office users to easily access and transfer company information into Symphony or work seamlessly with a Microsoft user. Symphony has DataPilot (also known as pivot table) improvements that allow people to easily drill down and analyze data. Mail merge and envelope printing enhancements appeal to organizations that need cost-effective ways to correspond with customers.

In addition, Lotus Symphony is also packaged with Lotus Notes and Lotus Foundations with support already included, no extra charge. Symphony is available on a wide range of devices and platforms including Apple MacIntosh, Microsoft Windows, Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Linux and Suse Linux. IBM Lotus Symphony can be downloaded free of charge at: http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

Add some viral UX video to this, and you've got a hit on your hands!

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