Lotus releases new Domino

IBM (IBM) subsidiary Lotus Development today unveiled its latest Web toolset, Domino.Connect, billing it as the ribbon that will tie together corporate America's computing systems and bring them online.

While the product won't be available until spring, it is designed to let users adapt existing computer infrastructure to today's Internet requirements by tying back-end systems into Lotus's Domino family of Web software.

It is also expected to integrate with business applications systems such as German software giant SAP's complex R/3 architecture, transaction-processing systems like software from Tandem, and relational database systems like the ones sold by Informix.

Information stored in the in-house systems can then be uploaded onto the Internet, and corporate intranets can be built using the Domino Web server tools. The server, which Lotus developed at breakneck speed last year, was originally built to bring the company's flagship Notes groupware online and has since spawned companion software in Web publishing, electronic commerce, and other fields.

Companies that deploy the Domino.Connect software will be able to extend Lotus's lauded Notes 4.5 groupware features like messages, scheduling, and replication to their online systems. The company said the technology can also be used to build sites that house applications for employees, customers, and suppliers through Notes client or an ordinary Web browser.

Domino.Connect supports a slew of protocols such as SQL and ODBC, as well as leverage the HTTP support of the Domino server. The Domino.Connect server license will sell for $7,995 and include free upgrades that the company has already scheduled for the second half of the year.

The upgrades will focus on increasing the integration of the software with the third-party business applications, database, and transaction software, according to Lotus.