One of my many (maybe too many) e-mail newsletters I receive has a link to a whitepaper entitled "Hosting Lotus Notes: The Right Platform for the Job." Published by Unify (more items on Unify can be found here and here). The teaser for the whitepaper states:
With organizations facing mandates to standardize and consolidate platforms, reduce costs, and improve scalability, manageability and interoperability of their systems, application migration is fast becoming a business priority. Migrations offer a compelling alternative to an application rewrite by reducing the cost and time in adopting new platforms. The result – an opportunity to maximize diminishing budgets and minimize end-user disruption by preserving the business logic and workflow functionality.
Reading that paragraph, I was thinking that Duffbert and Ed were wrong; Unity is talking about Lotus Notes and Domino. After all, they talk about:
Reducing costs. Domino runs on every operating system platform, including Linux. The Notes client runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You are not tied to any one operating system and are free to use the platform that makes the most sense to the business, economically and technically.
Scalability. One properly sized server can support thousands of users (IBM has tested it on one server with 18,000 users).
Interoperability. Notes and Domino can, and does, move data between disparate systems. There are many methods to accomplish this task depending on the release of Domino, the expertise of your development staff, and your budget.
Workflow. A term that epitomizes Lotus Notes and Domino.
But, no, they are talking about the Microsoft stack.
Looking at the whitepaper, they basically show that you are migrating from one Domino server to Visual Studio, .Net, Active Directory, SharePoint 2007, and SQL Server 2005. I don't know a lot about Microsoft, but all of that can't possibly end up on one Windows server.
A thumbnail sketch of a sample migration includes the Domino application migrated to a SQL Server database. The logic is done in C# Web Services in Visual Studio. The Notes interface is recreated into SharePoint Lists, Web Parts, and .Net applications. Your ACL is moved into Active Directory. Once done, it is enhanced using workflows, better user interfaces, and data integration. In the Microsoft stack.
This sort of thing has been attempted in the past with limited success and I expect the same from the current endeavor.
But while we are watching Microsoft and their partners, are we keeping an eye on other competitors who may have their sights on the Notes/Domino market? And I am not talking about the big firms, in front of us. I am referring to start ups, the ones that may be on the flanks.
On a related note, Keith Brooks has been on a roll lately. I hope that he is getting some feedback privately, because there are hardly any comments on his blog.
Link: Unify: Composer Brochure
Link: Ed Brill: And what did all of that marketing get them?
Link: Duffbert: I stumbled across the transcript for Unify's financial conference call today
Comment posted by Charles Robinson06/27/2008 10:50:37 AM
Homepage: http://www.cubert.net
Actually all that could end up on one server. In some scenarios it's even preferred.
Comment posted by Keith Brooks06/27/2008 11:26:40 AM
Homepage: http://www.vanessabrooks.com
Charles is correct it all COULD end up one server, but not in a company with a few hundred employees, let alone a few thousand.
Thanks for the ref and links. Some discussion, a number of people which have shown their management my thoughts.
Even posted on Linkedin about free upgrades, nothing heard.
So we learn that companies really don't value something for free, unless Microsoft goives it away. Which means if we have everyone make Microsoft give software away for fre we will bankrupt them? No, they get you in year 2, Software Assurance or maintenance.
Then they try to buy Yahoo!
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