No Surprise: Lotus Embraces J2EE

Lotus Software Sun

The news is hardly surprising, given IBM's full embrace of Java, observers said. IBM is Lotus' parent company.

Lotus' general manager Al Zollar told an estimated 5,000 attendees that Lotus has to expose "all our functions and components as Web services, and support SOAP, XML, UDDl and WSDL. But we [also need to look beyond the mere SOAP interfaces. There were two options: [Microsoft's .Net, or J2EE. .Net is OK for customers land-locked in Wintel, but 90 percent of customers are heterogeneous. So J2EE is the model we've chosen."

Also Monday, Lotus officially renamed its rNext software Domino 6 and Notes 6, though the products are still not shipping. Zollar said the first pre- release versions of Domino 6 and Notes 6 would be available in 30 days.

The software has been in progress for more than two years, but Aberdeen Group analyst Dana Gardner said the continued slippage is not an issue, because of the IT spending slowdown. Further delays could actually buy Lotus time to build J2EE support into Notes 6 and Domino 6, he said.

Also at the show, Lotus introduced Tivoli Server Health Management and Planning for Domino. This software will run inside the Domino administration client, Zollar said.

While the product "sounds a little geeky," it offers benefits including automated load-balancing and dynamic capacity management, Zollar said.

Lotus also said it is partnering with Cisco and Captaris to ensure that Domino integrates well with existing voice-mail systems.