IBM boosts Lotus admin
IBM announced a major upgrade to its Lotus Notes and Domino groupware suite last week, to offer firms better performance and improved administration features.
Domino 7 adds new database support, which means the server software could be used to stave off hardware upgrades and take on new types of applications.
Improved administration features are designed to let corporates lock down Notes client software to prevent users from tampering with settings that could cause more work for helpdesks or breach corporate policies.
Ross Reith, Lotus Business Unit Leader, said that Windows servers can now host 50 percent more users, and Linux servers can host 400 percent more users.
On the client side, Reith said the upgrade can improve user productivity. “New digital indicators show if users have received an email from a single person or a group,” he said. “And threads have been improved. In version 6 we had a thread view. In version 7, you open a message and use the show thread button to see the thread information,” he added.
Darren Adams of IBM’s messaging and collaboration division said one of the main new attractions in version 7 is the ability to use the firm’s DB2 database as a data store.
“Customers can build new types of application such as those that can efficiently store small simple records like tax information. DB2 support also makes it easier to use that data elsewhere,” he added.