IBM adds Web 2.0 features, Notes on a Stick to Lotus platform

IBM Wednesday added a set of updates to its Notes/Domino 7.0 platform, including a mobility feature known as Notes on a Stick.

The updates were released as Notes/Domino 7.0.2 and also contain social-networking tools, including a native blogging application and support for RSS and Atom feeds for some applications. Lotus also added updates to its iCal support, SAP integration and SmartUpgrade features.

Click to see: Notes on a Stick lets users carry their Notes desktop and use it with any computer that has a USB port.

The 7.0.2 release is an interim step toward Domino Next and the Notes Hannover client, which is built on the Eclipse framework. Both are slated to ship in the first half of 2007.

“There are several useful incremental improvements, but [7.0.2] is not a major milestone on the road to Notes Hannover,” says Peter O’Kelly, an analyst with the Burton Group. “But I expect we'll see much more about XML syndication, blogs, and wikis in future IBM Lotus releases.”

But even though it may not be a major milestone, O’Kelly says that 2007 will be.

“I definitely expect several future, major releases of Notes. Notes/Domino is back at the center of IBM's collaboration strategy.” And with Microsoft poised for its 2007 release of its revamped collaboration strategy around Office, SharePoint and Office Communications Server the ongoing battle between the two will heat up again.

“With SharePoint 2007 and IBM Lotus Notes/Domino Hannover coming out in the first half of next year, it's going to be a very significant year for communication/collaboration products,” O’Kelly says. “I continue to believe a lot of people will be surprised with Notes Hannover.”

In the prelude, however, Notes on a Stick will let users carry their entire Notes desktop, including e-mail and applications, on a USB memory stick and use it with any computer that has a USB port. The portable rich client gives users access to their familiar customized desktop and means they will not have to settle for a generic browser-based client. The stick also can contain the user’s security credentials and when removed from a computer leaves no trace of the user’s data.

Notes on a Stick requires a memory stick with a minimum of 512MB. The feature also can work off an external hard drive or even an iPod configured to store files.

“There are all sorts of profiles and lots of scenarios in which it plays,” says Ed Brill, business unit executive for worldwide sales at IBM/Louts. “People who travel to customer sites or events, executives who don’t want to carry a laptop, support engineers and contractors at customer sites.”

The blog tool is the first new application that IBM has shipped in the Notes/Domino box in years. The technology is the work of independent developer Steve Castledine, but IBM has acquired the intellectual-property rights to the code.

The technology is the platform Brill has used for three years to host his popular blog on all things Lotus.

The support for RSS and Atom feeds features a back-end database that lets an administrator assign feed capabilities to any Notes application with updateable information. All the work happens on the back end and the Notes application does not have to be modified in any way.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.