IBM Will Launch Lotus Collaboration and Developer Tools for BlackBerry

blackberrylotus.jpgIBM and Research In Motion will be offering new Lotus collaboration software and developer tools on the BlackBerry platform. New features will help customers find expertise, form teams, share information, and stay in touch in real time making them more effective and productive while on the move.

The new capabilities in Lotusphere include:

  • Mobile access to open document format-based IBM Lotus Symphony documents -- and later presentations and spreadsheet.

  • IBM Lotus Quickr Web 2.0-based team software to help individuals find, access, share and work with business content such as documents, photos, and videos on their BlackBerry smartphones.

  • Enhanced IBM Lotus Connections functionality for access to activities, blogs, and communities in order to augment the access already available to profiles and tags.

"Team collaboration shouldn't stall when employees are on the road or away from their desks," said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, Research In Motion. "RIM and IBM are strengthening the BlackBerry platform for Lotus with a portfolio of mobile office productivity and collaboration capabilities that will make BlackBerry smartphones even more effective in mobilizing businesses around the globe."

IBM and RIM will also preview something new for developers -- BlackBerry platform support for IBM Lotus Domino Designer and XPages. The BlackBerry Java Development Environment (BlackBerry JDE) for Eclipse plugs into IBM Lotus Domino Designer, making it easier to develop new software applications for BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry platform support for XPages enables developers to write a rich application once for both Web and secure use on BlackBerry smartphones.

IBM and RIM are rolling out these features and tools for BlackBerry smartphones in the coming months: Lotus Symphony document viewing and the new capabilities for Lotus Connections will be available in the second quarter; and the Lotus Quickr team room and Designer offerings are planned for availability in the second half of 2009.

Additionally, IBM Lotus Notes and Domino and IBM Lotus Sametime unified communications and collaboration software, which has worked on the BlackBerry platform for several years, is now also compatible with the BlackBerry Storm smartphone. The companies recently made a new presence and awareness-everywhere feature available on the Blackberry. This is made possible by the new BlackBerry Client for Lotus Sametime which provides smartphone customers with real time communications capabilities throughout the smartphone's applications.


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