Lotusphere 2004: Workplace takes centre stage

Eric Woods, Research Director

We wrote after Lotusphere 2003 that Lotus had finally come off the fence and articulated a clear vision for the future of the group, its existing products and most importantly a new set of innovative offerings. Our biggest concern at the time was the ability of the group to deliver on the promise of that vision quickly and effectively.

A year on, Lotus has delivered on its promises. This year there was no talk about two-track strategies or next-generation products in the keynote presentations. Instead Lotus Workplace was placed firmly at the centre of the Lotus strategy. The challenge now is to complete the initial products set (and so maintain momentum) and then develop on the wider vision for Workplace.

The first part of this challenge was met with the announcement of Workplace 2.0, which will include a new rich client capability and is scheduled for release in Q2 2004. We also got an insight into how the broader strategy for Workplace and Lotus is unfolding.

Workplace 2.0 and the IBM Workplace Client Technology

The most important element of Workplace 2.0 is the Workplace rich client based on the new IBM Workplace Client Technology. Rather than simply build a new client product, the Lotus team has taken the opportunity to develop a new OS-independent, client platform based on the Eclipse framework.

In the context of Workplace, the new client platform allows Lotus to offer users sophisticated, standard-based client collaboration capabilities in both on- and off-line modes. Lotus is also addressing the cost-of-ownership issue by enabling flexible server-based administration of client functionality and updates. It is thus trying to break the limitations of the thin/fat client debate by offering the best of both worlds.

The new client technology is not just aimed at offering a rich client experience for Workplace. It is will also be used as the framework for UI development across the IBM Software Group. IBM also sees it as an important part of its increasingly aggressive targeting of the ISV market.

The real importance of Workplace

It is important to realise that Workplace is much more than a product. As a standards-based, componentised architecture for collaboration covering server and client technologies, Workplace is also setting a new standard for how software will be developed by IBM in future. The fact that it can be implemented as a series of components, as a complete collaboration platform, or in conjunction with other parts of the IBM portfolio as part of a broader on-demand solution, is in keeping with the vision Steve Mills has laid out for software development across the Software Group.

Workplace is enabling Lotus to redefine itself in terms of its competency and capability with regard to user interaction and collaboration issues rather than as the developer of Notes/Domino. As a result, in little more than 12 months Lotus has been transformed from the weakest link in the IBM Software Group to an icon for what the group can achieve if it can truly become more than the sum of its parts.

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