Publication Date: January 17, 1997

Related article: Intranets and Groupware: Making Choices in a Converging Market

Lotus's Domino Theory

By Sue Mellen

In 1897, Mark Twain responded to the New York Journal's premature publication of his obituary with the now oft-quoted statement, "The report of my death was an exaggeration." The line could just as easily be applied to Lotus Notes, whose impending demise had, until last summer, been proclaimed by analysts from every corner of the industry.

Enter Domino, Lotus Development Corp.'s Web server technology, and the ailing groupware product has a new lease on life. And not a moment too soon, says Eric Brown, senior analyst with Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass. For too long, he says, Lotus has been trying mightily to refute Notes' reputation as complicated and overpriced.

"Lotus likes to say that Notes helps companies coordinate, collaborate and build a community. But many people have joked that Notes is closed, costly and complex," Brown says.

Lotus' market strategy, says Brown, is not just focused on Domino, it is Domino. "Although SmartSuite is a good product, there's no way it is going to unseat Microsoft Office. Lotus has to look to Domino in order to really compete," he says.

Ken Bisconti, Lotus Notes product manager, rebuts Brown's characterization of Lotus as a one-product company. "We're also making great strides in the development of lightweight, basically Java-based applications for the desktop market. This fits into the current market swing toward component-based technology," he says.

Bisconti does admit, however, that the company is laying heavy bets on Domino, something made easier by the deep pockets of corporate parent IBM. "There's no question that Domino is our most strategic product with regard to the Internet market."

Until recently, Lotus had chosen to steer clear of the Internet fray, banking that long-term security lay in Notes and its critical role in corporate communications. To Lotus' credit, seven million people depend on Notes for groupware. But over the last year or two, there has been a migration away from closed, proprietary systems such as Notes to open systems based on Internet protocols.

So Lotus has responded—some would say a little sluggishly—with Domino. Lotus actually began working on Internet technology almost three years ago, and early last year released InterNotes, a product for taking information from a Notes database and publishing it on a Web server. InterNotes also allows a user to bring Web pages onto a Notes server, converting them to Notes format, but the product only steps lightly into Web territory. It wasn't until December that Lotus began to ship its Domino 4.5 server, the first full-fledged Notes Internet product.

Domino serves as an extension to Notes servers, incorporating support for HTTP, HTML the POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) mail server and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security protocol with all of the tools of Notes, such as access to databases and replication. Upcoming releases of Domino will include IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol), which will support most Notes functions through standard Internet protocols. The Domino box includes both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, attesting to the company's stated commitment to openness to all comers.

"Domino is really an acceleration of what we've always done. We've been adding protocols to Notes for years. Now we're adding more interfaces and protocols to open our functionality to more users," Bisconti says.

For the company that already uses Notes, Domino broadens access to any employee who can use a browser, and allows for intranet visits by invited guests, such as clients or contractors. It also enables smaller companies to profit from Notes' functionality without incurring the extensive training and installation costs that sometimes made Notes prohibitively expensive. Bisconti says Domino has nullified the once-Golden Rule that only companies with 50 or more employees were appropriate Notes prospects. "The size of the company doesn’t matter anymore. The technology is open to a company of any size."

As for premature reports of Notes' imminent demise? "A lot of analysts had said that Notes was dead. But no one is saying that anymore. We've done surprisingly well with Domino over the last few months and we intend to keep opening new markets," Bisconti says.

Sue Mellen writes from Tyngsboro, Mass.

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Related article: Intranets and Groupware: Making Choices in a Converging Market

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