LotusLive Notes adds Hosted BlackBerry, Android, other new features

February 22 2011

This morning we released a service update to LotusLive Notes, as announced here. This is the third release of LotusLive Notes in six months, an impressive demonstration of IBM's ability to deliver in the software as a service market.

Today's service update is notable mainly for the improvements to mobile access for LotusLive Notes. A new service, IBM LotusLive Notes Hosted BlackBerry, offers a fixed-price, pay as you go full BES capability listing at US$10/user/month. LotusLive Notes Traveler has been extended and now offers Android device support on top of existing iOS and other devices. Some service improvements have been added from both the administration/management point of view and also some usability enhancements in LotusLive Notes web.

We highlighted LotusLive Notes customers at Lotusphere including Panasonic and General Motors Component Holdings. Another wave of customers has been onboarding in the last few weeks. My team is busy planning the fourth release already, with plans for that and a fifth release still on tap for 2011. If you are looking for the best, most-integrated cloud collaboration solution, I encourage you to check out LotusLive Notes and LotusLive Engage and see what we've done -- and will continue to do -- to make the IBM collaboration stack stand up in a SaaS world with tons of value and at a cost-effective price.

Ed Brill | München, Bayern Deutschland Category:  Lotus  LotusLive  IBM Lotus  Add/View Comments [17]

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  1. 1  Mat Newman http://www.matnewman.com | 2/22/2011 3:51:51 AM

    Great News Ed!

    Questions:

    Is the $10.00 per month including the BES support, or in addition to the LotusLive Notes per month access?

    What is the minimum number of users required to utilise this service?

    Thanks.

  1. 2  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/22/2011 4:18:28 AM

    @1

    $10 is the additional price for BES support on top of LLN (yes I realize it's more than the cost of LLN itself, just overhead); there is also a $15 price point for adding BES with MDS services (which nobody else offers in the cloud, so a nice competitive advantage for us).

    For now, there is a 300 user minimum on the BES Hosted offering. Environments that have fewer than 300 BES users should work with IBM LotusLive sales representatives on other options.

  1. 3  ChrisC http://www.bssuk.net | 2/22/2011 5:36:45 AM

    Ed,

    You mention "for now" in terms of the minimum level. Is this something that is being reviewed? Is there a desire to lower (or remove)?

  1. 4  Pete McPhedran  | 2/22/2011 7:54:23 AM

    Ed,

    coreFusion has been providing hosted BES including MDS "in the cloud" for more than 9 years now, so LL isn't the only one.

    Our minimum number of users is still just 1. Anything less than that and we aren't able to help. ;-)

    --Pete

  1. 5  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/22/2011 8:02:14 AM

    @4 Apologies for imprecision...Microsoft and Google don't offer it with their standard cloud offerings.

  1. 6  Phil Salm  | 2/22/2011 9:53:48 AM

    Great news that this has arrived. Unfortunate that there is a 300 person minimum requirement. The customers least able to host the BES environment on their own will have to do so. Hoping this is only a temporary issue. Will have to advise smaller customers to switch devices if they want to move to LLN.

  1. 7  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/22/2011 10:07:00 AM

    @6 like I said, in specific situations we have some other approaches so feel free to follow up with me offline.

  1. 8  Lisa Duke http://www.simplified-tech.com | 2/22/2011 9:09:17 PM

    @8 the pricing is on the site at { Link } live.com or you could have a super partner like me help you sort through the options. You can click through to our site and the "contact us" page.

  1. 9  Lisa Duke http://www.simplified-tech.com | 2/22/2011 9:10:22 PM

    Sorry, that should be www.lotuslive.com

  1. 10  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/22/2011 11:55:52 PM

    Lisa it is so nice of you to help out the spammer. I'll delete a couple of comments.

  1. 11  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 2/23/2011 11:41:59 AM

    How much for Traveler and is there a limit on that as well like BES?

  1. 12  Chris Miller http://www.IdoNotes.com | 2/23/2011 3:56:35 PM

    I live blogged a tech/sales talk today on the announcement that covers a ton of information

    { Link }

  1. 13  Timothy  | 3/9/2011 2:59:51 AM

    We are currently piloting an LLN hybrid configuration and see two issues:

    1. The minimum user requirement for BES is really a hassle for situations where an internal pilot is necessary to "prove" the solution to other stakeholders. Luckily we have our own BES to support the service for users in this phase.

    2. The migration method is horrendous, both technically and business wise. The requirement to involve Global Services, with a minimum $30k fee just for their part for a mass migration undermines the cost model. The technical method of sending all files on a NAS, suggesting a "one time migration of all users" is not realistic. Why isn't there an upload capability that let's a company move users one at a time?

  1. 14  William Smith  | 3/16/2011 11:18:11 AM

    Ed,

    I will be interested to see what if any changes RIM makes with their relationship with IBM, and the costs associated to BES in a LotusLive environment, considering this article:

    { Link }

  1. 15  Alexey Zimarev http://www.alexeyzimarev.co.uk | 3/21/2011 5:00:15 AM

    $10 per user and 300 minimal users eliminates the attraction of this offering for small businesses. And they will start looking at MS Office 365 with free BES, am I right?

  1. 16  david racicot  | 3/23/2011 10:46:26 AM

    $5 US or $6.61 CAN. Time IBM stopped charging Canada 30% eh?