Lotus introduces Sametime

Lotus used Comdex to introduce a new type of Internet-based collaboration software called Sametime, writes Dominique Deckmyn.

Jeff Papows, Lotus' president and chief executive, told delegates in a keynote speech in Las Vegas that Sametime provided the instant messaging functionality of such products as AOL Instant Messenger, but combined them with traditional 'asynchronous' collaboration software such as Lotus' Notes.

'We will move by the end of the year to a concurrent model of asynchronous and synchronous communication,' he said.

The product creates what Lotus calls 'awareness' of other users - for example, when users read an email from someone, they can immediately see whether or not the person is online.

They can also see if the author of a particular document, or a person mentioned in the document, can be reached at once.

Using the inbuilt chat and realtime messaging features, customers can then immediately strike up an online conversation with the person - while sharing documents or using a whiteboard.

Sametime makes use of standards such as the T.120 document sharing standard, enabling interoperability with, for example, Microsoft NetMeeting.

According to Papows, realtime online collaboration can increase innovation and speed up a business's responsiveness. He went on to claim that, thanks to Internet-based knowledge management, Courier Publishing had managed to bring out a book on Mother Theresa only five days after her death.

Such a venture would usually take anything from up to six to eight weeks.

Sametime will be integrated with Lotus Notes and Domino, but will also be sold as a stand-alone product.

The product will ship by the end of the year, and a preview version is now available for download from Lotus's web site at www.lotus.com.