Users boost IBM Domino effect

Corporates nervous about extending Lotus Notes and Domino across Intel platforms have embraced IBM's support of the software over traditional platforms like the AS/400.

This is the finding of the Lotus User Group's sixth annual survey of corporate users, planned to coincide with next week's Lotus Developers' Conference in Florida.

The survey asked 170 corporate IT managers which groupware system they planned to support over the next year.

Forty-six per cent expected to use Domino or Notes as their client mail standard - an increase of almost 10% - compared with the 9% who planned to use Exchange.

Director of the Lotus User Group, Michael Chapman-Pincher, said Lotus sites had overcome a 'knee-jerk reaction' to experiment with Exchange: 'For a long time people ring-fenced Notes in the department,' he said.

Elaine Dinsey, marketing co-ordinator at Car parts retailer Unipart, said the move towards centralised IT is driving the need for Domino and Notes to work on machines like the AS/400.

Forty-five per cent of respondents have developed extranet links outside their companies, which support tracking, workflow and electronic commerce. Unipart is considering whether to Notes-enable core databases for its own intranet.

The survey also revealed that Notes rollout is expected to receive a boost among mobile users. Twenty-five per cent said their mobile users would grow in number.