Joining the parade of business software moving onto the Internet, IBM launched an online suite of services Monday at IBM Lotusphere 2009 in Orlando, Fla.
Called LotusLive, the new offering marries Lotus’ capabilities with collaboration, social networking, and Web conferencing features that can extend outside a corporate firewall. It will enable users to create networks with customers and partners, store and share documents online, and get e-mail via the Web from any computer.
Skype, SAP, LinkedIn
The new hosted services are integrated with other software that IBM customers might use. Salesforce.com’s customer-relationship software is tied into LotusLive, as are Research in Motion’s BlackBerry phones, Skype video and voice communications, business management tools from SAP AG, and social-networking site LinkedIn.com. LotusLive users, for instance, can search LinkedIn for collaborators, then work with them via LotusLive.
A trial version of LotusLive has been tested by 15,000 users, according to IBM, although this is only a fraction of the 145 million licenses for Lotus Notes.
Business tools, especially those built around collaboration, are increasingly integrating their services into the cloud, as the Internet is known. Google, Microsoft and others have made similar announcements.
IBM has big hopes for LotusLive, saying it wants the online suite to become “your one-stop virtual office for all of your day-to-day business requirements.” By sharing documents, meeting virtually with potential customers, and connecting with other companies such as suppliers, IBM said LotusLive can “reduce start-up time” and enable businesses to free up IT resources.
Collaborating, Conferencing, E-Mail
LotusLive’s services are intended to integrate with each other, and to move beyond Lotus’ current capabilities. For example, IBM said LotusLive Engage, an integrated suite of collaboration tools, is “not a new meeting service.” Rather, it’s “just a smarter one.”
Online meetings can now include file storage and sharing, instant messaging, and chart creation in…