Open Standards Drive Lotus Upgrades

IBM on October 1 announced Sametime 3, a new version of the market-leading real-time collaboration software from Lotus, Cambridge, MA, (www.lotus.com). According to IBM, Lotus Sametime is the first major collaboration software package to support SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) for instant messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE) for presence awareness. SIP is an instant messaging standard accepted and approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force. This support will allow users to conduct instant messaging sessions within and beyond the enterprise using the open SIP/SIMPLE protocol.

Sametime 3 also extends its functionality to mobile users. Sametime Everyplace supports instant messaging between the Sametime server and handheld devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. An improved API lets application developers patch into Sametime's new instant messaging tools, providing standards-based access to instant messaging in context. Other new features include optional subscriptions to E-Meetings, integrated online Web conferencing service and the ability to integrate with the calendar applications included with Lotus Notes 6, Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Quickplace 3.

IBM also announced Lotus QuickPlace 3, a new version of the company's team collaboration suite. New features include "My Places," which allows users to create a personalized list of workspaces. A Java/XML API lets developers embed QuickPlace functionality within Web applications. QuickPlace has also been integrated with Lotus Sametime 3's real-time collaboration tools and with the calendar software present in Lotus Notes 5 and 6, and with Microsoft Outlook.

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