Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

News for Today, Nov 27

The happenings of the day:

• Research In Motion and O2 UK released a new BlackBerry Wireless Handheld, the 7730. The 7730 offers worldwide roaming on GSM/GPRS networks (via Tri-Band support). The screen of the 7730 is bigger than the one on the 7230. Product Page RIM
• Research In Motion announced that Radiomovil Dipsa (operating as 'Telcel'), a wireless carrier in Mexico, has deployed the BlackBerry solution to provide wireless access to messaging systems for its subscribers. RIM
• An Indian IT company, Zudha Information Technology, released Version 1.2 of its Project JXTA-based Zudha Instant Messenger peer-to-peer instant messaging solution for small and medium sized enterprises. Runs on Linux, Solaris and Windows. Available immediately. Zudha
• Invertix, at one time a provider of wireless instant messaging solutions for carriers, has been very quiet for over a year. Today it announced hiring Chris Read as VP of Enterprise Solutions -- Chris was previously the Director of Professional Services at Intraspect Software, which was acquired by Vignette in September. BusinessWire
• When EMC announced its intention to acquire Documentum, I failed to see the strategic benefit. Other analysts thought the same. Intelligent Enterprise

"Individual User of Public IM at Work" Does Not Equal "Corporate IT As Customer"

InfoWorld's just published an article re-articulating the fact that Yahoo (and AOL) are consumer-oriented services that haven't succeeded in breaking into the corporate market. The underlying reason is that selling into the corporate market requires an entirely different level of sales and marketing, since corporate IT becomes a direct customer. That's very true, although I was writing 12 months ago that that would happen.

For Ferris subscribers, see the Ferris Insight Bulletin of November 13, 2002, Consumer IM Vendors Try to Break into the Business Market (Login Required).

Reflections on the New Interwoven Strategy, 2003ff

With its acquisition of iManage approved and completed, Interwoven is seeking to position itself to deliver "end-to-end content lifecycle management". It made some noises about its new strategy yesterday. Here's my take on what it's doing:

• It's strategy is very expansive, covering many things in one integrated platform: collaboration, document management, Web content management, digital asset management, email management, and records management. Of these, document management, email management, and records management are the most mature, and enterprises will be willing to consider purchasing a single integrated platform from one vendor. I'm less confident that enterprises are ready to commit to a single vendor for all six, however, with collaboration, Web content management, and digital asset management being less mature offerings. These three areas need another 2-3 years to play out more fully.
• Interwoven intends to develop further points of integration between iManage's collaboration and document management technology and other Interwoven technologies. That's a good move, but is hardly a revolutionary thought. iManage has a good customer base, and if Interwoven intends to phase out the iManage product brand, it will need to convince existing iManage customers to migrate to products from the joint company. That transition process will be very important, and if not managed well, Interwoven will lose a lot of value from its iManage acquisition.
• This is for big companies. There's too many moving pieces (ie, different servers, multiple points of integration to other systems) for any organization that doesn't have dedicated resources in IT to spare.

News for Today, Nov 26

Interesting happenings from around the world today:

• MessageVine announced that Hutch, a CDMA2000 1X wireless carrier in Thailand, has released an instant messaging and presence service for its wireless customers. The service is based on MessageVine's IM Access platform. (Comment: News out of MessageVine has been fairly thin on the ground this year, so it is good to see another customer win.) Yahoo Business
• Good Technology debuted a new pricing model oriented around an annual fee per subscriber, with no additional fees for server licenses, network operating services, server maintenance, subscriber maintenance, and support. (Comment: Hopefully this is the sign of some deep strategic thinking at Good, and not a desperate last attempt to grow a viable business.) Silicon Valley Biz Ink
• Visto Corporation partnered with AT&T Wireless for the joint sales and marketing of corporate wireless messaging services for the Treo 600 on AT&T's GSM/GPRS wireless network. The Visto solution works with Microsoft Exchange Server. Visto
• Interwoven published a white paper entitled "Moving from File Folders to Virtual Worlds with Matter Centric Collaboration: A New Technology Paradigm for a Changing Legal Industry" (389 KB PDF). " ... it provides an integrated view of content, events, tasks and contacts for any given matter, or project, enabling teams, and practice groups to delivery high-quality services more efficiently. Matter-centric collaboration brings relevant documents, email, Internet, intranet, extranet content into a unified environment that can be accessed, securely, by users in any location." Bitpipe (Registration Required). (Comment: It's a fairly basic White Paper, outlining the challenge of keeping a legal file up-to-date across multiple sites, and proposing the use of a shared team space instead.)

News for Today, Nov 25

Here's what I've come across as new in the world of shared spaces and associated technology:

• PalmOne announced that AT&T Wireless has introduced the Treo 600 wireless phone and email device on its GSM/GPRS wireless network. Available immediately, for US$500 with a monthly contract. palmOne
• Expanding beyond its current 'single channel' with Cingular Wireless, Good Technology announced that AT&T Wireless will offer the GoodLink Wireless Messaging System on its GSM/GPRS wireless network. Provides continuous, two-way synchronization between Microsoft Exchange Server and a Treo 600. Other wireless devices will be supported shortly. Good Technology
• Nokia outlined its go-forward strategy: expanding mobile voice, driving multimedia, and extending mobility to enterprise customers. Key tenets: offer appropriate devices for the various market segments, organize via a new structure aligned around the key market segments (each with profit & loss responsibilities), among others. Nokia
• iLumin announced a partnership with Syntegra, for the delivery of an email management solution that combines message management (archiving, compliance management) with a carrier-grade messaging platform. iLumin provides Assentor Enterprise for message management, and Syntegra the messaging platform. iLumin
• eWeek reviewed IMlogic's IM Manager 5.1, a tool for managing, securing and enforcing policy over IM usage in the enterprise. eWeek writes, "IM Manager 5.1 made it easy to control and audit IM usage across an organization. Overall, the product provides an accessible platform for managing IM, although we'd like to see it provide more administrative roles to help companies with compliance needs watch the watchers." eWeek
• Manulife Financial, an insurance and financial company, rolled out Lotus Workplace Messaging for 3,500 sales agents in Japan. Manulife was already a Notes/Domino shop. IT Business Canada
• Dell has no plans to develop a Palm OS-based wireless/mobile device, preferring to stick with the Microsoft-based wireless device software. Brighthand
• Reply Wireless, a UK-based wireless data company, it offering access to enterprise applications from mobile devices through OneBridge Mobile Groupware from Extended Systems. OneBridge is offered as a subscription service, for corporate email access (Exchange and Lotus Notes/Domino). Extended Systems
• Microsoft is investigating a potential flaw in the Outlook Web Access component of Exchange Server 2003, which at random times gives random access with full privileges to someone else's mailbox. InfoWorld

News for Today, Nov 24

News items from across my desk today:

• Following the lead from NTP Inc., which has been successful in initial litigation against Research In Motion for patent infringement, InPro II Licensing has sued T-Mobile USA Inc. and Research In Motion on similar groups. T-Mobile USA is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. detnews.com
• Infowave Software updated Symmetry Pro, its wireless email service for individual consumers. Support was added for Windows Mobile Smartphone 2003, Pocket PC 2003, Symbian Series 60, and Symbian 7.0 UIQ devices. Available immediately, although Infowave's mobile operator partners must upgrade in order to deliver network support. Infowave
• Oracle has licensed the Jabber Extensible Communications Platform (XCP) from Jabber, supposedly for use in Release 3 of its Oracle Collaboration Suite, due 1H2004. Oracle plans to support both SIP/SIMPLE (which Microsoft and IBM Lotus have supported) and XMPP (the IETF standard which forms the basis of Jabber's platform). IMPlanet

Reflections on the Lotus Collaboration Strategy, 2003ff

I attended the Lotus Workplace Collaboration briefing with Ed Brill of IBM Lotus in Wellington yesterday, November 20. The session had seating for 30-40 people, and most of the seats were taken. Ed went through the Workplace collaboration briefing, and then a review of IBM's positioning in the market, with a particular emphasis on positioning vs. Microsoft.

I made a couple of comments to Ed after the session, such as:
- The joining of "IM/presence" as a joint feature in marketing materials and presentations should stop. Presence has much wider applicability across the Workplace applications, and whilst presence had its most recent push via IM, it should be positioned, discussed, and thought about as a cross-product and cross-application piece of fundamental infrastructure.
- Greater linkage of emails and archived IMs in the Workplace interface is needed. For example, in the "Re-inventing Email" screen shot, presence displays the availability status of the email sender, and the current user can initiate an IM with that person ... but, where does that IM disappear to once the session is finished? I think it should be displayed alongside or underneath the email that drove the original session.

Following my own research on Microsoft's new collaboration strategy over the past month, I see the following as key points of differentiation and advantage for IBM Lotus:
- Easier administration ... Workplace functionality can be turned-on and turned-off for individuals and groups, without having to deploy new servers, new software, and new points of integration as in the Microsoft model.
- Server consolidation ... Microsoft's approach breeds multiple separate physical servers just to cope with what IBM Lotus can do on one (or at least, will be able to do so in 1H2004 when Workplace 2.0 is out).
- Platform agnostic ... as in, Microsoft will support Windows Server 2003 only, whereas IBM Lotus offer a number of alternatives depending on the customer's current environment and future plans.
- Client software agnostic ... whereas users have to upgrade to the latest version of Office 2003 to get the "best" user experience with Office System 2003 (particularly Windows SharePoint Services), IBM Lotus enables users to communicate and collaborate via Workplace using existing client software.
- Cost ... IBM Lotus offer very compelling price points, vs. Microsoft's "almost-the-most-expensive-option-on-the-planet" offering, once you deploy Windows Server 2003, upgrade users to Office Professional 2003, deploy SharePoint Portal (and pay the CALs), deploy Office Live Communications Server (and pay the CALs), deploy SQL Server (and pay the CALs), etc.

News for Today, Nov 21

Interesting news of the day (for November 20 too, as I was out of the office):

• Macromedia released Central (Developer Edition), which enables the development of applications that can access information spread over a network both in connected and disconnected (offline) mode. Once a connection is re-established, the software automatically updates the information held locally, similar to Groove Workplace. IM and presence capabilities from AOL IM and ICQ will be available via an SDK later on. Central Product Page InfoWorld. Support for handheld device access is planned. Digit
• AOL enabled users to log into its IM network from multiple computers simultaneously using a single screen name. Previously, the second log in attempt would disconnect the first active log in. I tried it with Volker Weber and it worked great: iChat on two Mac's and the AIM client on a PC, although my Sametime 3.0 client on another PC would not connect. BetaNews
• Salesforce.com announced a partnership with Research In Motion to enable wireless access for users from RIM BlackBerry devices to hosted data in the Salesforce.com system. eWeek
• MetaLogix, a consulting company and systems integrator, said its work with Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services is "driving revenue growth". LocalTechWire
• Tony Kontzer, InformationWeek, has published an interesting article on real-time teamwork. HIGHLIGHTS: Page 1 ... plans of the South University School of Pharmacy for online learning and collaboration (video-conferencing, voice-over-IP, IM, shared spaces), and some explanation of contextual collaboration and collaboration componentisation; Page 2 ... issues of ROI for real-time and document-centric collaboration, particularly for knitting together components from multiple vendors; Page 3 ... some details on products (Siemens, Oracle, IBM Lotus); case study of Dow Corning's corporate portal based on SAP, with the idea that " ... all these collaborative tools [are made] part of the portal architecture ... "; Page 4 ... case study of Nektar who is using IBM Lotus software for collaboration; concluding comment about the human/cultural issues. There are some decent charts in the article, including Delphi's one entitled "How important are these apps to your real-time collaboration strategy priorities?" on page 4.

Photo with Ed Brill, Wellington November 20

I finally got to meet Ed Brill of IBM Lotus fame, here in Wellington for an IBM Lotus seminar on the Lotus Workplace Collaboration Strategy. Thanks to Lisa and Shane from IBM Lotus for a pleasant business-oriented lunch after the seminar.

News for Today, Nov 19

Interesting news of the day:

• Dell introduced the GoodLink wireless messaging product, completing a deliverable arising out of an earlier strategic alliance with Good Technology. The product from Dell combines Dell PowerEdge servers, the Good GoodLink system software, and Good G100 wireless handheld devices. The Good solution works with Exchange Server to provide wireless access to email, contacts, and calendar data. Good is aiming to leverage Dell's corporate account linkages to 'sell more product'.Good Technology
• The jury in Microsoft vs. Imagexpo awarded damages of US$62.3 million against Microsoft for patent infringement related to the real-time whiteboarding features of Microsoft NetMeeting. With NetMeeting approaching end-of-life, however, it's unclear as to any broader impacts if the ruling is upheld, pending a possible Microsoft appeal. IM Planet
• The Interwoven/iManage merger was approved by both sets of stockholders. Interwoven
• Entopia announced an integration between its Entopia Knowledge Locator solution and the Microsoft Office System. Allows knowledge workers to find content and experts from throughout the enterprise without leaving Word 2003, Outlook 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 or Microsoft Office Excel 2003. The Knowledge Locator uses the Microsoft Office applications' Research Task Pane to provide contextual access to all information and people available in the organization. For example, an information worker who is creating a new legal contract in Word 2003 might need to find a standard legal paragraph for use in the contract. To automatically retrieve documents that match the document he or she is working on, the worker can either type search terms in the Knowledge Locator query box available on the Research Task Pane or just right-click to initiate an enterprise wide search. The results, drawing from network folders, e-mail servers, the Web, intranets, portals, extranets, local hard drives, databases, content management systems and other enterprise application repositories, are presented inside the Research Task Pane.. Entopia
• PalmSource introduced the Palm Powered MobileWorld program to connect mobile operators, infrastructure providers and software developers. Its aim is to encourage the multiple participants in the wireless "ecosystem" to work together to make the Palm OS best-of-breed for smart mobile devices, aka smartphones. Secondly, PalmSource was to create a catalog of software titles that can be provisioned over-the-air to Palm OS-based smartphones. Press Release
• Zone Labs Integrity 4.5, an enterprise-class security solution, allows enterprises to "secure employees' use of public instant messaging services". That means that client software that accesses the AOL, MSN and Yahoo public IM services will be protected from vulnerabilities and attacks. The IM security module is an add-on to Integrity 4.5, adding US$20 per seat (with volume discounts available) over the base price. Zone Labs
• The architects of Internet2 are considering how to integrate instant messaging into its fabric. Under consideration: integration with authentication and identity systems, the role of the XMPP standard, and the use of IM beyond person-to-person messaging. IM Planet
• Sybari released Antigen 7.5 for Instant Messaging, an anti-virus solution for the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003. Key features: scans file transfers and message conversations for viruses, configuration of filtering by document type, size and name, and incident notifications to administrators by SMTP email, among others. Sybari
• Sun Microsystems acquired Waveset Technologies, a provider of identity management solutions, called Waveset Lighthouse. Sun intends to integrate Waveset's products into the Java System Network Identity Service, Sun's current identity management solution. Sun Microsystems