Some of the things IBM is doing in Notes/Domino 7.0 and other products seem to telegraph where the company is headed. With version 7.0, IBM for the first time provides native relational database support for DB2, creating an alternative storage base for Notes data and applications. Currently, Domino servers use the proprietary NSF (Notes Storage Facility) to store all data, which keeps these mail servers essentially siloed from the rest of an enterprise. Relational database access breaks up the monolith, to a certain extent, while allowing die-hard Notes ISVs to keep developing applications in the Lotus rapid app-dev environment. Workplace data is already stored in DB2, so this more closely aligns the data sets.
Meanwhile, in what seems an acknowledgement of Microsoft Outlook's ubiquity as a mail client, IBM earlier this year unveiled a tool that provides Domino back-end users with access to Outlook on the front end. To date, 100 customers and partners are piloting Domino Access for Microsoft Outlook, according to Lotus officials.
One ISV I spoke with earlier this week said he thinks the battle between Exchange and Notes/Domino is essentially over, with Microsoft winning. But bottom line is that the competitive situation itself is nearly meaningless, Notes and Exchange are "like Coke and Pepsi," he said, "swapping shelf space over and over." For partners, the challenge will be in deciding to brush up on Java and WebSphere skills and moving WorkPlace front and center in their Notes practices, or taking a look at the next version of Exchange Server and Office System, which sports innumerable collaboration tools as well.
But the venerable Notes/Domino? I'm not so sure that's the platform of the future.
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