Separating client from server - Lotus' family of single-purpose Notes clients - Product Development

Software Magazine, March, 1997 by Colleen Frye

Lotus Development Corp., Cambridge, Mass., ended widespread speculation about its 1997 market strategy at the annual Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Fla., last month. The company rolled out a family of single-purpose Notes clients while continuing to advance its "fat" integrated Notes client. Moving aggressively into the uncharted territory of Java components and network computers, Lotus continues to leverage both IBM's deep pockets and back-end technology.

Industry analysts praise Lotus' decision to separate the client and server portions of its Lotus Notes groupware development platform. The first steps were taken last year when Lotus renamed the server Domino in Version 4.5, and began incrementally opening the system to Internet standards. Now the firm is facing new challenges. "It was smart to separate the client and server to play in each space," says Steven Weissman, president of Kinetic Information, Waltham, Mass. "But that gives Lotus the same issues everybody else [Microsoft and Netscape] is facing, such as 'Where does intelligence live?' "

According to Lotus, much of that intelligence will continue to live in the full inte- grated Notes client, answering the question of Lotus' long-term commitment to its proprietary client. "For robust groupware and messaging, you need code in somebody's face," says Executive VP Mike Zisman. "We've seen the world come back to our view of the client."

The next release of the Notes client, code-named Lookout, is due in the first half of this year. It will feature an enhanced user interface, a new navigation paradigm and integration with Microsoft's Internet Explorer in a Notes application. A follow-on release, code-named Maui, due in the fourth quarter, will support IMAP4, LDAP, NNTP, IIOP and ICAP protocols.

During the show, Lotus unveiled the first of its single-purpose clients, Lotus Mail-Java Edition, and Lotus Mail, which supports POP3, MIME and LDAP. Notes Product Manager Scott Prather says it would be a "good assumption" to expect single-purpose clients for collaboration, content and applications. Lotus' strategy, he says, is to whet an appetite for functionality available in the integrated "fat" client and sell more integrated clients.

At the same time, Lotus has pledged to continue "componentizing" certain functionality in the Notes client for browser users. The Notes applets will be based on an implementation of IIOP, with initial availability at year-end.

Lotus also previewed its new line of Java-based productivity applications, code- named Kona, which will be available for beta downloads in early March. The products are targeted for NCs and low-end PCs. While Lotus says pricing and distribution models are still undecided, Zisman says an OEM model would make sense. He suggests that IBM's next version of the NC, for which Lotus developed the new desktop environment, would be a likely candidate.

The Java effort continues as a key area where Lotus and IBM are increasingly collaborating. IBM Chairman Lou Gerstner told Lotusphere attendees that other joint efforts include the continuing integration of Domino with IBM transaction systems, and integrating IBM cryptolopes -- containers that allow secure distribution of content over the Web -- into Domino.

In the meantime, Lotus customers are clamoring for better support for established products. "There are still a lot of issues in trying to interact with Lotus as a customer, particularly with international firms," says Gary Clare, president of Walnut, the worldwide Notes user group. "Big companies distributing around the globe found out they had virtually no support in certain areas."

Both Gerstner and Lotus President Jeff Papows acknowledge that they must focus on Lotus' service and support prob- lem. Papows says the issue is a major area of focus for the entire senior management team in 1997.

Still unaddressed is the complexity of installing Domino, an issue that also frustrates users. Software Magazine has learned that Lotus is working on a server-side solution, code-named Club Med, to address that concern.