IBM Notes/Domino

The IBM Lotus Notes (also Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes/Domino) are the software product, the platform for automation of joint activity of the working groups (Groupware). It is made by the Lotus Software IBM company entering into IBM Software Group company.

2018: Notes/Domino passes to HCL Technologies (India)

According to the message of December 7, 2018 the HCL Technologies company with the headquarters in the city of Noida (India) will purchase at IBM corporation program assets for the amount of $1.8 billion. The companies already came to the arrangement on sale for benefit of HCL Technologies of eight applications, including such sign product as Notes/Domino.

After completion of the transaction in the first half of 2019 the HCL Technologies company will also become the full owner of products Appscan BigFix, Unica, Commerce Portal Connections, the focused on the markets e-commerce and human resources.

As of December, 2018 the parties are in the status of partners in the field of intellectual property in five of these applications.

The reasons for which IBM made the decision on transfer of the developments of the third-party company are not disclosed.

Notes represents the software package created for automation of joint activity of the working groups. It is the whole complex of software solutions which enter, including, means for work with e-mail, the instant messaging system and the application for work with group calendars. The platform exists in versions under OS Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Mac OS.

The second not less significant product of IBM which in half a year will take over by HCL Technologies is Domino, a server part of Notes. Domino includes a number of services, including DBMS, the server of directories and mail too.

Transfer of IBM of the property rights to the software products of the Indian HCL Technologies does not mean that the corporation met difficulties. On the contrary, 2018 became for it productive: in March, 2018 she provided the tiny microchip supporting blockchain technology, and at the end of October, 2018 purchased Red Hat company^[1] for $34 billion^[2].

2012

IBM Notes/Domino - Social Edition 9.0

The IBM corporation submitted at the end of 2012 to users the beta of qualitatively updated communication IBM Notes/Domino — Social Edition 9.0 environment.

In Notes/Domino Social Edition 9.0 technologies of collective interaction of employees, "cloud services" providing universal access to necessary information and applications and also instruments of work with the corporate software from tablets and smartphones gained the further development.

As Ed Brill, the director of management of the line of products in division of solutions for collective work wrote to IBM in the blog, according to poll, 2/3 business partners of IBM are going to implement new release in the first three months after its exit.

The commercial version of Notes/Domino Social Edition 9.0 will appear in the first quarter 2013.

IBM buries the Lotus brand

In November, 2012 IBM announced that the release of the public beta of Notes/Domino 9.0 Social Edition will take place on December 14, 2012, and for the first time for the name of a system the Lotus brand will not be used.

For the first time for a long story of development of the IBM platform the beta will submit to the general judgement public because the next version is very important for the company, Ed Brill, the director of a product line of IBM in the official blog^[3] said].

The version is also remarkable the fact that for the first time a system should adjoin a product line of IBM under a brand of corporation, without using the name Lotus, Brill said. At the same time the name of the Lotus system was used by "the blue giant" since in 1995 IBM was absorbed by Lotus Development Corporation.

Earlier IBM reported that the next release of Notes/Domino will have sequence number 8.5.4, but the volume of changes in a system turned out so considerable that the decision to appropriate to release sequence number 9.0 was made.

An opportunity to start some applications of Notes in a nemoderiruyemy order via browsers on the PC running Windows so the enterprises will not be required to set the complete client of Notes for work will become one of new features of a system.

Updating will also include the processed user interface, new mail and possibilities of the calendar, support of SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), a number of improvements for the platform of developments XPages and many other things.

For the first time an exit of Notes/Domino Social Edition it was announced at the Lotusphere 2012 conference, on development of release left about a year. The first beta code on limited conditions was shown in April, 2012. The enterprises which are interested in testing a beta can be registered here.

According to the plan, the full-fledged release of a system will be issued in the first quarter 2013.

2009

Advantages of the platform

(Data are relevant for November, 2018)

• possibility of creation of the geographically distributed systems;
• open architecture, the mechanism for application development;
• opportunity for work mobile and offline users;
• the support of modern technology of replication with the minimized traffic allowing users to work effectively even in the absence of access to network;
• built-in means of exchanging instant messages;
• integrability with other information systems (compatibility with data types of IBM DB2, Oracle, Sybase, MS SQL, ODBC);
• the document focused databases - an opportunity for work with any types of electronic documents, including unstructured data;
• security of IT of infrastructure - the multiple model of protection configured from server level to the level of an individual field in the document;
• platform independence - the Domino server works running different operating systems (Windows NT OS/2 Unix Linux iSeries).

Description

Positioning

Lotus Notes is the platform for application programming of automation of management and document processes. Feature of a system is the object-oriented architecture thanks to which creation of the information systems automating work with slozhnostrukturirovanny data and unformalized dynamic processes is possible. As a part of the software product only basic functions allowing to organize work of the distributed working groups and to create applications of process automation therefore it is incorrect to the activity of the enterprise finished with the automation system to consider Lotus Notes contain (just as, for example, the server cannot be considered as an accounting system of MS SQL). Lotus Notes is the platform for such applications. Electronic document management systems and other finished solutions on the Lotus Notes/Domino platform are developed and third-party software makers extend.

Terminology

Full official name of a product: IBM Lotus Notes/Domino.

The IBM company since 1996 uses the following terminology:

• Notes is the software of the client workstation.
• Domino is the software of the server.

To version 4.5 inclusive the name "Domino" was used for the separate application adding to the Notes server functionality a server web. With an exit in the 1996th year of version 4.6 the functionality of the Web server was included in delivery of the Notes server. The server changed the name — instead of "Notes server" "Domino server" began to be called.

Starting with version 5.0 a client part of Lotus Notes consists of three parts:

• IBM Lotus Notes Client are a workplace of the user
• IBM of Lotus Domino Designer is a workplace of application developer Lotus Notes (programmer)
• IBM of Lotus Domino Administrator is a workplace of the Lotus Notes system administrator.

Main Functions

The basic functions entering basic delivery of Lotus Notes/Domino of version 7.0.2:

• environment of execution of applications of automation of group activity
• cryptoprotection (enciphering and electronic signature)
• client of e-mail
• application server
• mail server
• group calendar, task scheduler
• the client of the environment of instant messaging of Lotus Sametime (the Sametime server is an independent product)
• web the server — for providing access to the Lotus Notes applications via the browser
• LDAP server
• Replication — synchronization between remotely remote copies of databases
• services of data integration Domino Enterprise connection services (DECS)

Specific Features

1. Cross-platform.

   Significant feature is the cross-platform of Lotus Notes. The current version is certified by IBM for work with the following operating systems:

   • the Lotus Domino Server — Windows NT (32 and 64 bits), GNU/Linux (Red Hat, SuSE), Solaris, OS/400, AIX, OS/390)
   • the Client of Lotus Notes — Windows NT (32 bits), Mac OS X, GNU/Linux

2. Replication
3. Fast RAD and deployment of applications.

   The application development environment of IBM Lotus Domino Designer provides to developers the developed basic services for development of dokumentooriyentirovanny applications.

   The program code and visual forms of applications are physically stored in databases in which they are used and executed. At making changes in a program code or a form of change become available to all users and servers getting access to the database in which the changed code or a form are stored. On other servers of change arrive by means of replication at the first session.

4. Autonomous accomplishment of applications

   The client of Lotus Notes allows locally (on the user's computer) to store the Lotus Notes databases, to replicate them with the Domino server, to work with local databases in the absence of connection to the Domino server, to perform a program code of the server in local databases.

   This functionality supports full-function work of the user in the status disconnected from the server (for example, on the notebook). Changes on local (for the user) the computer and on the server are mutually synchronized by means of replication.

5. Infrastructure of management of public keys (PKI)

   Cryptofunctions using public keys — enciphering and the electronic digital signature — are basic services of a core Lotus Notes. Each user of a system at registration receives couple of keys: the public key is stored in the general (public) address directory and is available (to reading) to users from the server, and the secret key is stored in the identification file of the user locally.

   • the Electronic digital signature is used at authentication by the server of the user and/or the server, at determination of the trust level to the executed code, when checking reliability of e-mails, documents (records in a DB) and separate fields.
   • Enciphering is applied to e-mails, entirely databases, separate documents (records in a DB), separate fields and network traffic between two Lotus Domino servers and also between the server and the client of Lotus Notes.

Current versions

For November, 2018 IBM of Lotus Software supports and develops the next versions of the products Lotus Notes/Domino:

| ' Lotus Domino Server'

Product	Language	Version 7.0		Version 8.0		Version 8.5
		release	date	release	date	release	date
Lotus Notes Client	English	7.0.4	April, 2009	8.0.2 FP1	January, 2009	8.5	January, 2009
	Russian	7.0.3	март 2008	8.0.2	December, 2008	8.5	март 2009
English	7.0.4	April, 2009	8.0.2 FP1	January, 2009	8.5	January, 2009

The maintained technologies

(Data are relevant for November, 2018)

1. E-mail

#* SMTP #* POP3 #* IMAP #* MIME

1. • DNSBL (fight against spam)

# Instant messenger #* Sametime

1. Reading news

#* RSS #* Usenet (NNTP)

1. Full-text search
2. Data Base
   • Object-oriented DBMS
   • client-server Technology
   • Formats: NSF and NSFDB2

3. Server
   • Cluster (server group)
   • Sections of servers (partitioned servers) — a possibility of installation on one hardware server of several Lotus Domino servers

#* SMP

1. • Passthru is end-to-end connection ("proxy" under the NotesRPC protocol)

2. Client

#* Eclipse

1. • Thin client (HTTP and HTTPS)

2. [Network protocols'
   • the Stack of protocols of TCP/IP — by default Lotus Notes functions on TCP 1352 port

#* IPX/SPX #* NetBIOS

1. Replication
2. Programming languages
   • @ - formulas

#* Lotus Script #* Java #* JavaScript

1. Integration with DBMS and other applications (according to data and program calls)

#* CORBA #* COM #* XML #* ODBC #* DDE #* OLE

1. Cryptoprotection (Enciphering and Electronic digital signature)

#* X.509 #* SSL #* S/MIME

Expansion of functionality Lotus Notes

Expansion of functionality (products IBM Lotus)

• Lotus Enterprise Integrator
• Lotus Domino Document Manager (Lotus Domino.Doc)
• Lotus Domino Everyplace
• Lotus Mobile Connect
• Lotus Quickr
• Lotus Sametime
• Lotus Expeditor

Development is stopped

• IBM of Lotus QuickPlace — the functionality is inherited in the product Quckr; the name is changed because of global expansion of functionality and change in positioning of a product.
• IBM of Lotus Domino.Fax — development is stopped for the purpose of elimination of the competition to products of partners.

Products of the third firms

EDMS, constructed on the basis of Lotus Notes/Domino

• CompanyMedia
• BOSS-Referent
• Karelian medical information system

Antiviruses

• Kaspersky's antivirus for Lotus ^[4]
• Антивирус Trend Micro ScanMail для Lotus Domino http://ru.trendmicro.com/ru/products/enterprise/scanmail-for-lotus-domino/index.html
• Antivirus of Drweb for Lotus Domino

Antispam

• LotusAntispam is effective fight against ^[5]
• ^[6]
• Spamfiltr in a set of an antivirus of DrWeb for Lotus Domino.

The competing systems (platforms)

• EMC² Documentum
• Outlook Microsoft SharePoint Microsoft (в связке с Microsoft Exchange Server, SharePoint| Server и Microsoft SQL Server)
• Novell GroupWise

Notes

Links

• Official site
• Official site of IBM of Lotus Software
• The website of representative office of IBM Lotus Software in Russia
• History Notes and Domino

Review articles

• Lotus Notes: nevertheless reality Computerra of#6(431), on February 18, 2002
• [1] Lotus Notes 8.0 PC Magazine/RE

For technical specialists

• The forum InterTrust is the oldest Russian forum (the very first record in a forum on July 9, 1996) for Lotus Notes/Domino specialists
• In total about Lotus Notes/Domino — the website for technical specialists
• The website about programming in Lotus Notes/Domino — webbook for the beginning specialists