Yesterday Microsoft announced an updated and expaneded toolset to support organisations using Lotus Notes/Domino to co-exist or migrate to the Microsoft Collaboration platform:
Microsoft Announces New Application and Messaging Migration Tools for Lotus Notes/Domino Customers
Hundreds of new companies worldwide have chosen Microsoft for their collaboration needs.
REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 17, 2006 — As part of its broader strategy to make it easier for Lotus Notes/Domino organizations to move to the Microsoft collaboration platform, Microsoft Corp. today announced a suite of new and updated tools to help organizations analyze their Notes/Domino application environment and move important application data to Microsoft’s collaboration platform. These tools, which will be available for free download, include the Microsoft® Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino, Microsoft Data Migrator 2006 for Lotus Domino, and new Windows® SharePoint® Services Application Templates. In addition, Microsoft announced the immediate availability of updated messaging and calendaring migration and coexistence tools, available now for free download, that include Exchange Connector for Lotus Notes/Domino, Exchange Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes/Domino and Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes/Domino. Microsoft continues to be the collaboration platform of choice with hundreds of companies worldwide, such as Arcelor, First Data Corp. and Wolters Kluwer, making the decision to move in the past six months. ….
The press release is available on : Microsoft.com
The press coverage has been huge. Find below an overview of just some of the news sites / analysts that have covered the announcement :
As part of its ongoing effort to lure customers off of IBM/Lotus Domino and Novell Inc.’s Groupwise, and onto the Exchange Server messaging platform, Microsoft is refreshing its suite of Exchange migration tools. The suite, code-named Red Bull, will come out right before the annual IBM/Lotus Lotusphere conference in late January in Orlando. Red Bull is expected to include a comprehensive revamp of Microsoft’s mail migration tools, and includes an application and analysis analyzer and a recoded Exchange-Notes Connector, said one IT expert who declined to be identified. Red Bull began its trial run in late October 2005.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a free set of new and updated tools aimed at helping Lotus Notes and Domino users move to Microsoft Office-based server platforms. The announcement comes less than a week before Lotus’ corporate parent, IBM, kicks off Lotusphere 2006 in Orlando, Florida. “Today we are responding to the strong demand we’re seeing from customers using Lotus Notes/Domino who are planning a transition to … the Office system of programs, servers and services,” says Microsoft corporate vice president Kurt DelBene. “This announcement is a big step in our overall strategy toward helping these customers make the move so they can begin to take advantage of our platform’s benefits.”
SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp. Tuesday said it plans to offer a variety of analytical and data transfer tools, aimed at luring customers of IBM’s rival Lotus Notes e-mail software to its own system that allows business to collaborate on projects via the Web. Both Microsoft and IBM are vying for supremacy in the $2.8 billion corporate messaging market which includes collaboration tools such as e-mail, Web publishing, electronic calendars and project management systems.
Microsoft and IBM/Lotus have been duking it out for years when it comes to winning over IT executives on their choice of messaging platforms. Microsoft turned up the heat this week just days before IBM/Lotus’s big collaboration confab, Lotusphere, in Orlando, Fla., with the release of a refreshed suite of free tools to help administrators move off of IBM/Lotus Domino and onto Microsoft Exchange.
Less than a week before rival IBM Corp.’s annual conference for Lotus Notes users and developers is set to kick off, Microsoft Corp. is introducing new resources to help customers migrate from Notes to its own collaboration platform. Microsoft on Tuesday plans to unveil several new tools designed to help business customers move from a messaging platform made up of IBM Lotus Notes client software and Lotus Domino Server to Microsoft Exchange Server and related collaboration software. The company also plans to update existing tools it offers customers for the same purpose. The following Sunday, Jan. 22, IBM’s Lotusphere 2006 conference is set to kick off in Orlando, Florida.
Aiming to woo users of Lotus Notes, Microsoft is releasing software designed to help companies switch to its own line of collaboration tools. The collection of free software provides tools to help move data over to Microsoft’s platform from IBM’s Lotus software. It also includes utilities to facilitate the period when customers are running server software from both companies.
This morning, Microsoft announced plans to market a number of new analytical and data transfer tools that could draw users of rival IBM’s Lotus Notes to purchase Microsoft e-mail software instead, Reuters reports. One feature of Microsoft’s new tools would allow companies to collaborate on projects via the Web; a feature focused directly on swapping the allegiance of Lotus Notes users’ to the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant.
Microsoft today waged a new assault on long-time rival IBM, offering a suite of free tools to help businesses move application data from their Lotus Notes/Domino software to Microsoft’s SharePoint platform. Microsoft’s move is designed to lure customers from Lotus to its SharePoint suite, both of which are popular products in a multi-billion-dollar collaboration software market with high stakes.
Just a week ahead of its rival’s annual user conference, Microsoft Tuesday unveiled a set of migration tools hoping to win converts from Lotus Notes. The company updated its migration and co-existence tools and said it would release early this year two free tools for simple data migration from Lotus Notes applications. Microsoft and IBM/Lotus have been involved in a collaboration battle for more than a decade. With a saturated e-mail market the pair have been left to try and steal each other’s customers as both companies re-tool their collaboration platforms.
Microsoft and IBM/Lotus are at it again in the messaging–make that collaboration–wars. Just days before the annual Lotusphere love fest kicks off in Florida, Microsoft unveiled updated tools to ease migration from Lotus Notes/Domino to Microsoft’s own “collaboration platform.” In years past, the company would have focused these tools on Exchange Server, but Microsoft’s collaboration platform now comprises several other products such as SharePoint (both Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server) and Microsoft’s Live Communication Server (LCS).
In a bid to tempt firms running Lotus Notes or Domino to defect to its Exchange offering, Microsoft today unveiled a suite of free tools designed to help organisations “analyse their Notes/Domino application environment” and move data to Microsoft’s rival collaboration platform. The tools, which will be available for free download, include the Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino, Microsoft Data Migrator 2006 for Lotus Domino, and the newly developed Windows SharePoint Services Application Templates.
Microsoft said Tuesday it would set its sights on Lotus Notes and Domino customers, providing new tools to assist in the migration to Microsoft Office products. As a further incentive, these tools would be available on the company’s Web site as a free download.In addition to migration tools, Microsoft also announced the availability of Exchange connectors for Lotus and Domino. This would allow customers who wish to continue using IBM’s suite employ Exchange Server on the backend.
Microsoft have announced a suite of new and updated tools to help organisations analyse their Notes/Domino application environment and move important application data to Microsofts collaboration platform. These tools, which will be available for free download, include the Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino, Microsoft Data Migrator 2006 for Lotus Domino, and new Windows SharePoint Services Application Templates.
Microsoft on Tuesday began targeting organizations that use Lotus Notes and Domino, offering an array of tools that will help them switch to the software giant’s products from IBM’s widely used collaboration software. The move bears the fingerprints of Lotus Notes inventor Ray Ozzie, who was hired by Microsoft in March 2005 when the company acquired Mr. Ozzie’s company Groove Networks.
I have seen the post over on Ed’s weblog.
I can not comment to that because I don’t know the reason.
Fact is is that the product is still in Beta which may have something to do with it.
I do think that Ed’s conclusion are a bit one sided (as was the intention I believe) and that there is a better explanation.
This intention of this post by the way is to show you the interest and aparent interest of the press / analysts … pretty impressive ..
Funny how MS have pulled the beta since the announcement as it doesn’t seem to work very well.
http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/microsofts-red-bull-back-in-the-pen
Actually, I don’t see a single analyst comment that is favorable about this announcement — only “it’s about time” and “it still doesn’t do what Notes does”. What did I miss?
Woops. MS pulled it. Shame really, as it was on track to be even bugger than the MS Exchange to Notes connector…
Tell you what – why not get all those ex-Iris people that you keep boasting have joined MS, and get them to do a “proper” version ?
Then we can compete on product, rather than the usual MS “promise” before its “ripped” off the website and “replaced”…
Tsk tsk.
30 BILLION dollars in the bank – one of its key marketplaces, with a 7 month old promise to be agressive, and this is the best that MS can do ?
Hell, NASA put a man on the moon with less money than MS has wasted on the X-Box – let alone “Vista reset”.
Time for a career move ?
—* Bill
@ Ed,
I will make a seperate post with the analyst quotes especially for you 🙂
You can not deny that there is quite some coverage in the press, so this must mean there is interest in the topics and Microsoft’s moves
@ Bill,
Part of the tools are still in Beta and will be released in the coming months as announced, so it’s a bit early to draw that type of conclusions.
Furthermore the current toolset is available and does a great job as well ..
You can find enough information on my blog to prove that MS *can* compete on product, so I don’t get your point on that Bill …
Career move LOL, I work for one of the best companies in the world …:-)
“You can find enough information on my blog to prove that MS *can* compete on product, so I don’t get your point on that Bill …”
Yeah Bill. SharePoint just released Discussion and Document Library templates. Didn’t you know? With this leap forward, the product is now the category leader in collaboration. Keep up with the times, why don’t you?
Nathan,
Thanks for this cynical comment. If you are serious to discuss the proof point / analyst vlidation let me know 😉
Hi Peter!
At Lotusphere at the moment but as you know, I did a full review of the application analyser. I would be happy to discuss the proof if you want.
*Just getting the popcorn and soda ready for this discussion*
In reality, while I am in no way going to move off the Domino platform any time soon, I really would like to see a working tool like this from MS to get a good idea of what you think it will take to move some of my applications to your platform. In the end, it will give me more information when talking to my customers and allow me to give them more options than if I only have Domino at my disposal. But as of right now, there is nothing for me to compare since I have never built an app in the MS world and don’t expect to any time soon.
Sean—
@ Paul,
I really would like to discuss this with you.
I have done a lot of analysis with the current version together with partners. You will understand I can not share any client specific data with you, but can certainly discuss other relevant information and findings.
Let’s plan something after LS.
@ Sean
Join in in this discussion .. your invited if you bring the popcorn 🙂