News

IBM Expands Information Server, Sets Delivery Dates for Collaborative Software

• By David Nagel
• March 19, 2008

Lotus Quickr is a Web- and desktop-based rich collaboration and file sharing environment available in Standard and "Entry" editions. The Standard edition provides a media repository/store, a set of Web services for content management and collaboration, and plug-ins for accessing Quickr through desktop apps. Lotus Quickr Entry is similar to Standard but geared toward personal file sharing, rather than team collaboration and multiuser document sharing. Features new to 8.1 (Standard) include:

• Lotus Connections integration;
• Plugins for supporting Lotus Notes 8.0.1, Lotus Symphony and Microsoft Outlook;
• An improved UI and workflow, including enhancements to contextual menus, breadcrumbs navigation and version control;
• Simplified personal file sharing; and
• New administrator features, including enhanced policy settings and reporting.

Lotus Quickr Standard and Entry will be available in English on March 28 via electronic delivery and on April 8 in physical packaging with documentation. Other localized versions will roll out between April 28 and June 9.

IBM Workplace Collaborative Learning is a portal solution for supporting training. Version 2.7 has been available since December of 2007. However, a new edition with (apparently) the same version number is being released in March as well, adding support for additional databases and operating systems. Complete information on databases and systems supported can be found here. This version will be available electronically on March 21, with physical media and documentation becoming publicly available on April 18.

Also this week, IBM expanded its Information Server software with the addition of the IBM Information Server FastTrack module for collaborative development. It includes support for development across roles, import/export features for integration with Microsoft Excel, customizable "discovery algorithms" for matching data structures, automated ETL WebSphere DataStage jobs and various other integration features. Further information about IBM Information Server FastTrack can be found in an IBM white paper here.