Lotus shows off Domino tools
The company details a number of its products in the Web server, document management, and Web application hosting markets.
During the first day of Lotusphere 98 in Berlin, the IBM subsidiary debuted new connectivity tools for integrating its Domino Web server to enterprise resource planning systems, imaging and storage features for its Domino.Doc document management package, and new versions of its Domino Instant Host Web application package.
The company rolled out a team of system integration tools for its Domino Web application server that will allow users to access enterprise-wide data and information from various sources within an intranet or extranet.
New connectivity software, called Transaction Processing System Connectors, links Domino to transaction processing systems such as IBM's CICS, TXSeries, IMS, and BEA Systems' Tuxedo. The connectors allow developers to build business applications that merge workflow, collaboration, and process management features of Domino with the data from transaction processing systems.
"The power of integrating critical business processes with transaction processing systems simply means that organizations can deploy complete, cohesive information through the Internet and intranets," Eileen Rudden, senior vice president of Lotus Communications Products Division, said in a statement.
The company also debuted its Lotus Enterprise Integrator--formerly known as Lotus NotesPump--a data distribution server that consists of a Domino management application and a multithreaded server. The Domino application part of the bundle, called the LEI Administrator database, is used to create a Domino template, transfer documents, activities, metaconnectors, connector options for high-speed transfer and load balancing, and LotusScript and Java programmability tools.
Pricing and general ship date for the integration tools were not released.
The company also debuted two new features of its document management package, Domino.Doc.
One of these is the Domino.Doc Imaging Client which is a desktop-based imaging technology, with features such as annotation, mark-up, and built-in optical character recognition, the company said. With the new Windows 95 and NT based Domino.Doc Imaging Client, users can scan and then store paper-based documents along with other electronic documents managed by Domino.Doc file cabinets.
The other announcement in the Domino.Doc family was the Domino.Doc Storage Manager, which enables users to manage available storage space while allowing access to the document archive. It also provides off-line archiving of the documents managed by Domino.Doc.
Although there is no pricing available for the individual Domino.Doc enhancements, the current price for Domino.Doc 2.0 starts at $9,500.
Finally, Lotus said it plans to ship Domino Instant Host 1.1 platform in October. The updated version of the Web application platform features support for all European locations and languages, an enhanced customer service console with improved account management and movement of instances between servers, and complete Year 2000 compliance. Lotus said Instant Host 1.0 had not been tested to see if it would recognize the Year 2000, so it didn't consider the product Y2K ready.
The platform is offered through an ISP for users to rent on a part-time basis and built on Lotus Notes and Domino software.
"We also changed the business model," for charging users, said Steve Brand, senior director of Lotus's hosted Internet solutions division. "In the past, we metered authorized users only, whether or not they were using the platform. We now have a session based model. If they don't enter the session, they aren't charged by the ISV."