IBM Unveils Plans to Enhance Business Collaboration Tools

Strategic Insights -

IBM announced its plans to make business collaboration tools faster, easier, and accessible anywhere at the annual Lotusphere Conference. The company revealed partnerships with industry leaders Orange group, Samsung, and Verizon Wireless, as well as a new version of IBM's leading unified communications and collaboration solution, IBM Lotus Sametime. Key features of the new version include always-ready, reservation-less meetings, a zero-download Web client, and the ability to add meeting participants by dragging and dropping names from the instant messaging contact list.

Key Takeaways:

  • IBM plans to expand its collaboration sales channel to global device and telecommunications carriers through partnerships with Orange, Samsung, and Verizon Wireless.
  • The announcements with Orange and Verizon Wireless will give their mobile network customers access to IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software on their hand-held devices, expanding Lotus email access to 85 million users across the US and 113 million users across Europe.
  • Samsung will also support IBM Lotus Notes Traveler software, enabling millions of Samsung smartphone customers to manage their Lotus Notes email, calendars, and address books anywhere.
  • IBM plans to support Microsoft Active Sync in a future version of Lotus Notes Traveler, extending automatic synching capabilities for email and calendaring tools to a new range of mobile devices.
  • The new version of IBM Lotus Sametime features advanced audio and video features, allowing users to select the collaboration style best suited for the task at hand.
  • The new IBM Lotus Sametime comes with a new Web 2.0 look and feel and a redesigned Web 2.0 tool kit, making it easy for enterprises to build key communications capabilities into their business processes.

Statistics:

  • Over 85 million users across the US will have access to IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software on their hand-held devices through Verizon Wireless's mobile network.
  • Over 113 million users across Europe will have access to IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software on their hand-held devices through Orange's mobile network.
  • Samsung's plan to support IBM Lotus Notes Traveler software will enable millions of Samsung smartphone customers to manage their Lotus Notes email, calendars, and address books anywhere.
  • IBM Lotus Sametime's reservation-less online meetings will allow users to start meetings instantly, without the need for passwords or downloads.
  • The new version of IBM Lotus Sametime is planned for the second half of 2009.

Sources:

  • IBM
  • MARKET WIRE via COMTEX
  • Comtex SmarTrend Alert
  • Comtex News Network, Inc.