Customers eye Workplace warily at Lotusphere

ORLANDO - While IBM Corp.'s Lotus software group blazes ahead with its Workplace vision, the company still has work to do to convince some of the Lotus faithful that the new architecture makes as much sense for them as it does for IBM.

IBM talked about its developing Workplace strategy at last year's Lotusphere show, but at the time it didn't have much live code to show off. This year, with the first round of Workplace products released and the second due soon, several attendees interviewed at the conference said they're interested in finding out more about the platform IBM calls its focus for Lotus' future.

For those accustomed to traditional Notes/Domino development, Workplace, based on J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition), has a steep learning curve, said Manpreet Singh, chief operating officer of IT Factory A/S's India business. IT Factory, a software and services company, develops applications around Lotus software.

Singh said his office is trying to develop a Workplace strategy. It's had customers ask about the new technology, though no one has signed on yet for a deployment. Singh is worried about the portability of custom Domino applications and add-ons to the Workplace system.

"I've been talking to IBM. They say it's practically drag-and-drop," he said. He's skeptical. "That's sales talk. It's impossible."

Alaa El Ghatit, a knowledge-management technical strategist with Lincolnshire, Illinois-based human resources outsourcing and consulting firm Hewitt Associates LLC, is also concerned about the resources required to migrate to a system crafted around Workplace software.

"We really need a lot more information on the ROI (return on investment)," he said.

Though IBM says it won't abandon its Notes/Domino base, El Ghatit is wary that keeping up with current technology will require following IBM down the Workplace path -- a path he believes would involve significant costs for staff retraining and new hardware purchases.

"Are they just going to dump Domino into a support mode? I think there's still some concern," he said.

It's the hardware costs associated with Workplace that may dissuade smaller companies from adopting the new software. Workplace's advanced features mean its hardware needs significantly exceed those of the "extremely efficient" Domino architecture, Workplace lead architect Jeff Calow acknowledged following a conference technical session.

In the Philippines, where Definitive Solutions & Services Inc. President David Rosenthal is based, aging hardware predominates and money for new investment is scarce. He's recommending most of his cash-strapped clients stick with Domino for as long as possible, even for new projects.

"We have a lot of old 486s kicking around," he said. "It doesn't matter how cheap they make the software if it requires too much hardware to run."

Larry Bowden, IBM's vice president of portal solutions and Lotus products, said IBM is listening to customer concerns about Workplace and moving to address them with tools and programs intended to smooth the transition.