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Subscribe via EmailJust announced today at the opening of IBM's new Littleton Design lab:
IBM Collaboration Software to Support the Android PlatformWhilst the iPhone and Blackberry are still way in front in the organisations we work with, there is no doubting the surge in interest that the Android mobile OS is seeing right now. It's fantastic that both Traveler and Connections will support the devices in the near future.
IBM today announced it is delivering a beta version of business-grade collaboration software for use with devices that run the Google Android operating system.
More than ever, businesses are embracing the model of a mobile enterprise. According to analyst firm IDC, there will be more than one billion mobile workers worldwide by year end 2010.
“IBM is committed to supporting the vast array of mobile devices out there including the Android platform,” said Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president, messaging and collaboration, IBM.
Lotus Notes Traveler for Android beta version is no-charge software that can be downloaded by Lotus Notes customers and provides two-way, over-the-air synchronization of information between Lotus Domino and mobile devices.
The software allows Lotus Notes users who synchronize their Domino mail, calendar, and contacts via Lotus Notes Traveler to view that data on the devices that run the Android 2.0 or higher operating system. This includes the Droid, Nexus One and many other devices.
Additionally, the next version of IBM Lotus Connections social software plans to support the Android platform.
According to a recent news report, approximately 100,000 Android based phones are being activated each day, with more than 60 models on the market.
“Employees at Memorial Health System use Lotus Notes Traveler on other devices, and I am now getting many requests for Lotus Notes Traveler on Android devices as well. We look forward to trying out the functionality on the Android platform as participants in the beta program,” said John Cherry, Programmer and DBA Manager, Memorial Health System.
IBM also has Lotus Notes Traveler software that supports Nokia Symbian, Windows Mobile Devices and the Apple iPhone and iPad. “I have seen an increase in the use of enterprises using IBM Lotus software with mobile Apple devices as new support and devices have become available, for example, most recently the iPad.” Employees of General Motors, Hyatt, Roto-Rooter Services and many companies have employees using IBM collaboration software on a variety of mobile devices including Apple's.
More than half of the largest 100 corporations use IBM's flagship collaboration offerings, Lotus Notes and Domino. These companies include the top aerospace and defense organizations; the top nine automotive firms; the top eight banks; the top four makers of consumer products; the top seven electronics firms; the top eight insurance companies; the top seven pharmaceutical organizations; and the top nine telecommunications carriers.
Can't wait to get my hands on that Traveler beta code ;-)
By: Stuart McIntyre | 11 Comments | On: 16 June 2010 15:04:49 | Tags: traveler lotus android
Comments
Although i applaud the upcoming beta, where's support for 2.1?
Re-read the article. It says 2.0 or higher.
Thanks for that clarification. There has been some discussion about the wisdom of excluding 1.x devices (>50% of all Android devices right now). I don't have a major issue with this statement going forward, but I know others do...
You can count me in as one of those others.
When we asked IBM to support Traveler on Android, what do they think we were using? 2.1 wasn't released then. We wanted IBM to support the Android handsets that we had now.
In this currently world of 18-24mth handset contracts we are tied into these 1.x handsets and, aside from a rip & replace operation, we're stuck with them.
Lotus Traveler is free and convenient, a nice bonus on top of our Notes licensing. If we want new handsets, we need a budget. To have a budget, we need an approved signed off project and a review of the handset market. The end result is that we'd end up buying some more Blackberry devices. We already use Blackberry for our "important" users - it's a limited deployment as these things aren't cheap to run.
Traveler allows us to deploy similar functionality to others who aren't blessed with monetary sign-off. If a senior manager has an Apple/Nokia/WinMo phone in his pocket, we can set-up Traveler for him. We can't do that with Android. Following this announcement, we still can't.
At Lotusphere, IBM was pretty up front with not supporting all in market Android devices. Indeed they made it sound like it would per phone, not per OS (and maybe it is, I've haven't tried the beta code yet).
Not supporting 1.x is a handicap, sure, but it wasn't supported yesterday either, or when you bought the handsets.
I have no particular skin in this game, but it seems at least fairly reasonable that a product in beta would support the current version and not older versions. If I were building a version for Android (or anything else), I'd start by making sure I could support the current version forward. When that worked, I'd see whether I could easily support earlier versions that were widely used.
So, yes i would agree with you Ben. Froyo or 2.2 has not been released yet.
I really need to start working less hours. :p
Do any of you guys actually own an Android handset? Or are you just curious iPhone owners? There seems to be very limited knowledge here.
The "current version" actually depends greatly on the handset. If you own a European HTC Hero, the current version is 1.5. It's still on sale.
If you own a European HTC Tattoo, the current version is 1.6 - it's still on sale.
If you own a Nexus One, the current version is actually 2.2
2.1 is current on some other handsets, particularly those available in the USA.
In Europe, on GSM models, the OS versions are considerably older - the Nexus One was even launched about 6 months later than it was in the US. (although you could import one).
If we look at it like MS Windows, for a long, long time the "current version" was Vista - the majority of machines still shipped with XP.
In May, the UK supermarket Ocado launched their eagerly awaited Android app. It was available for OS 1.6+, approx 75% of the global market. In the UK, the proportion of 1.5 handsets is massively greater and they were clearly shocked by the backlash from customers. By the beginning of June, they had a banner on their website "coming soon for Android 1.5" and they have even already released a version of 1.5.
People are unlikely to want to spend around £400 to enable them to use free software. Until they are out of their cellphone contract, that is their only option.
Given the suit against Google over its use of Java in the open-source Android mobile operating system, I wonder if there will be any impact or delay on Lotus Traveler for android?
Some of the comments raise issues about the Android market. While the original intent of Android was:
By providing developers a new level of openness that enables them to work more collaboratively, Android will accelerate the pace at which new and compelling mobile services are made available to consumers.”
Things seem to be changing in the USA market. Tech Republic reports that "the U.S. telecoms are reconsolidating their power and putting customers at a disadvantage. And, their empowering factor is Android. The carriers and handset makers can do anything they want with it. Unfortunately, that now includes loading lots of their own crapware onto these Android devices, using marketing schemes that confuse buyers (see the Samsung Galaxy S), and nickle-and-diming customers with added fees to run certain apps such as tethering, GPS navigation, and mobile video."
A worrying trend for those who were hoping for more from Android. Will this affect collaboration software and will the telcos start charging more for such services? They can? It is beginning to look as if the iphone is more open than Android, at least in the USA.
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