Lotus introduces instant meetings

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. - Lotus last week enhanced its Sametime real-time collaboration server with a new feature that lets end users set up instant meetings.

The instant meeting technology in Sametime 1.5 builds on the product's existing real-time chat technology. Lotus' intent is to let users instantly convene an interactive data conference online, complete with documents, spreadsheets, interactive presentations and other applications.

Lotus also revealed that its Sametime Connect Client for instant messaging now works with America Online's Instant Messenger; the integration stems from a deal the firms struck in January. The relationship is in sharp contrast to a battle AOL and Microsoft began last week after Microsoft took it upon itself to link its instant messaging client to AOL's Instant Messenger.

While Lotus' Sametime technology hasn't taken off yet in the enterprise, the technology is gaining momentum.

"We've done a cost analysis of our overnight packages, faxes and phone calls, and we think we will see a payback on the Sametime server within a year," says John Lugar, executive vice president of WestSphere Equity Investors LP, an equity investment company in New York. WestSphere is spread across North and South America and is very document-driven, according to Lugar.

"Now I send an instant message to a colleague in Buenos Aires, and we can begin to collaborate on documents in real time," he says.

Sametime 1.5 uses its instant messaging feature as a way to invite users into an instant meeting. When an invitee responds, an applet is loaded into the end user's browser to support the sharing of data and applications.

The service can support sessions with internal and external end users. However, traversing a firewall can be tricky. To address this issue, Sametime 1.5 includes tunneling capabilities for HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS 4.0 and 5.0.

"Lotus is attempting to enhance its proxy support, but the issue is not easy to overcome because firewall technology varies so much," says Mike Comiskey, an analyst with International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass.

Lotus Sametime 1.5 server, which is scheduled to ship next month, includes a tool kit for building applications and supports 16 languages. The server, which runs on Windows NT, is priced at $5,000. The client access license is $20 per user. An extranet version of the server is priced at $10,000 and provides for an unlimited number of users.

Also last week, Lotus acquired Macromedia's Pathware, a technology for managing and tracking online classroom work. Lotus plans to integrate the technology into Lotus' LearningSpace server, which supports instructor-led virtual classrooms.

Lotus: www.lotus.com