Domino Merchant, Latest Lotus PR,
LOTUS PRESS RELEASE
Lotus Continues To Accelerate Into Small and Medium-Size Marketplace
Newest Versions of Domino Intranet Starter Pack, Domino.Merchant Server Pack and Instant!TEAMROOM Available Within 30 Days
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 26, 1998 -- Lotus today announced that it will begin shipping Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 and Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack within two weeks. These solutions allow small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) to quickly and cost-effectively implement intranet and e-business solutions that leverage Domino, the industry's leading messaging and groupware solution. Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0, a powerful yet easy-to-use intranet solution that delivers world class messaging, enables growing businesses to quickly realize the productivity benefits of standards-based Internet mail, group calendaring, faxing, information sharing and network collaboration.
Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack is a complete, customizable software solution that helps smaller, growing businesses take maximum advantage of leading edge Internet commerce technologies. This award-winning product provides everything required to deploy an Internet commerce-enabled Web site quickly and easily, with minimal Internet programming experience. Lotus also announced today that an updated version of Instant!TEAMROOM, Lotus' first Instant!-branded, user-initiated groupware application, will be available to Lotus 'Net Service Providers (NSPs) in April. These three offerings comprise the cornerstone of Lotus' overall SMB initiative, designed to provide small and medium-sized businesses with easy-to-use, collaborative solutions that leverage the powerful, inherent capabilities in Domino, such as workflow, security and replication, to effectively communicate among employees, partners, vendors and customers.
"Growing businesses need solutions that allow them to quickly gain a competitive advantage in today's fast-paced economy," said Eileen Rudden, senior vice president of Lotus' Communications Products Division. "These productivity-enhancing solutions allow organizations to leverage the Internet to communicate and collaborate with their constituencies and automate their existing operations."
Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 Provides Users Most Robust Messaging and Mobile Capabilities
Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 is a packaged intranet solution that includes the Lotus Domino server, a choice of five Lotus Notes 4.6 clients or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0/Netscape Navigator 4.0 Web browsers, Internet mail and calendaring, and 12 ready-to-work business applications. Once deployed, users benefit from communication with Internet mail, phone directory, document sharing and online discussions. Customers also can automate business processes by using customer, project and account management applications, and create an engaging Web site with a few simple steps.
The Notes 4.6 client enables users to benefit from Notes' world class messaging and mobility. Utilizing Notes' unparalleled mobile support, disconnected users receive rich functionality, allowing them to access their e-mail, calendaring and scheduling, and other intranet applications as they work remotely. Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0's advanced calendaring and scheduling capabilities enable Internet mail and calendaring users to take advantage of free-time search and directory lookup capabilities. In addition, users can send faxes right from their desktop and because the fax server integrates with their messaging system, users can send messages to a wide audience and specify whether a recipient should receive the message via fax or e-mail.
Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack Enables End-to-End Commerce Solution to Encompass The Entire Selling Cycle
Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack provides electronic commerce application templates, including an online storefront, multiple product catalogs and real-time, workflow-augmented order processing capabilities to enable growing businesses to have electronic commerce capabilities that mirror their existing business processes. The commerce applications help merchants establish long-term relationships with Web users through new and updated commerce capabilities that:
Offer one-to-one marketing capabilities, including discounts and promotions designed for specific people, groups and organizations; Provide real-time order processing capabilities through connections to CyberCash payment software, Taxware International's taxation software, and integration with United Parcel Service's (UPS) track and trace systems; Securely sell and deliver digital goods online; and Integrate with existing EDI-based systems with an included demonstration version of Market Data System's (http://www.mdsgroup.com) ecCENTRIC EDI product, supporting outbound X.12 and EDIFACT EDI capabilities.
Also included with Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack is SiteCreator 2.0, an easy-to-use Web site creation wizard that walks business professionals through the process of describing the way their Web site needs to work, and then rapidly assembles complex software components for maximum site efficiency. In addition to e-commerce applications, the software includes a complete set of non-commerce applications, enabling smaller businesses to provide a complete external e-business presence for their customers.
Together these features provide growing organizations everything necessary to quickly establish an affordable business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce presence. Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack helps small organizations compete with larger organizations by extending e-commerce beyond the boundaries of transaction processing to include all of the pre- and post-sales activities required to get the greatest return on an e-commerce investment. This complete e-commerce solution, building on the core applications of the Domino Intranet Starter Pack, offers users market-leading content management features and tight integration with groupware technologies that are critical to the development of workflow applications.
"Lotus has provided small businesses with an e-commerce application that is powerful, quick and easy to use," said Clyde Shiigi, vice president, Datahouse. "Domino.Merchant has helped our customers make full use of the Internet and expand their small businesses to attract a larger audience."
Teams Collaborate On the Web Instantly Through Rentable Applications
Instant!TEAMROOM 1.5, the updated version of Lotus' first Instant!-branded, user-initiated groupware application, is expected to be available to Lotus 'Net Service Providers ('NSPs) in April. Instant!TEAMROOM allows workgroups and teams to self-subscribe via 'NSPs to quickly and easily establish a private workspace outside of any one corporate firewall on the Web for collaborating on projects in an accessible, secure and affordable manner. This updated version is based on the Domino Instant! Host platform, the hosting platform which enables end-user self-subscription to Domino-based collaborative applications, including Lotus' Instant!TEAMROOM, and will offer a new, more graphical user interface and selective e-mail notification of new teamroom postings.
Business Partners and VARs Utilize Lotus' SMB Offerings to Provide Customers Competitive Advantage
Both Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 and Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack are fully customizable for Business Partners and value-added resellers (VARs) who want to build add-on business applications for a customer's intranet or Internet infrastructure, enabling growing businesses to increase profitability by utilizing e-business applications. With the enhanced customization options in Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 and Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack, Business Partners and VARs can easily plug in custom or add-on business applications to a customer's intranet, enabling them to tailor the solution as the customer's business needs expand. By developing user-initiated applications with Instant!TEAMROOM for Domino Instant! Host, Business Partners and VARS are able to reach a broader market of customers and teams.
"Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 allows us to deploy solutions in a quick and powerful manner, offering an immediate return on our investments," said Russ Bryant, vice president, Trinity Technologies Consulting Inc. "Our SMB customers were looking for an e-mail and application network that was easy to install and maintain, and Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 provided these benefits, as well as a strategic solution to solve business problems."
Lotus Provides Business Partners and VARs Services and Support
In addition to providing a complete set of offerings, Lotus is continuing its channel initiatives to enable its Business Partners, 'NSPs, Internet Service Vendors (ISVs) and VARs to implement and support these solutions for their growing business customers. VAR Central, a Web site managed by Lotus' Business Partner Enablement group, provides Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 and Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack product information, and materials for download and self-paced training. After passing a brief technical exam, VARs and Business Partners can post their company's contact information and URLs on Lotus' product page, providing them with an additional vehicle for attracting potential customers. Business Partners and VARs can access the site at lotus.com. Information on Instant!TEAMROOM can be accessed at lotus.com.
In addition, Lotus offers the e-business Development for Growing Enterprises (eDGE) fund, a program that supports Business Partners and VARs in the development and deployment of Lotus Domino-based e-business solutions for small and medium-size businesses. Details on the program can be found on the eDGE fund Web page at developmentfund.nfibonline.com.
Pricing and Availability
Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0 will be available on the Windows NT platform in both English and International English for an estimated retail price (ERP) of $1695.00. Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack, part of the IBM Net.Commerce family of e-commerce products, will be available on Windows NT for an ERP of $3495.00 for a single processor and $8995.00 for a multiprocessor. Upgrade pricing of $2621.00 (ERP) to Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack is available to licensed users of Domino.Merchant 1.0, Domino Intranet Starter Pack 1.0 and Domino Intranet Starter Pack 2.0. Instant!TEAMROOM subscriptions are available through a growing list of Lotus Business Partners, ISPs, 'NSPs and Alliance Partners via links from the Instant!TEAMROOM Web site (http://www.lotus.com/instant). Subscription rates are determined by the individual ISPs, 'NSPs and Alliance Partners hosting the service. Instant!TEAMROOM currently supports Netscape Navigator 3.x and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x.
Lotus Development Corporation, founded in 1982, is a subsidiary of IBM Corporation. Lotus offers high quality software products and services that reflect the company's unique understanding of the new ways in which individuals and businesses must work together to achieve success. Lotus' innovative approach is evident in a new class of applications that allow users to access and communicate information in ways never before possible, both within and beyond organizational boundaries. Lotus now markets its products in more than 80 countries worldwide and provides numerous professional consulting, support and education services through the Lotus Services Group.
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Lotus and Lotus Notes are registered trademarks, and Domino, Domino Intranet Starter Pack, Domino.Merchant Server Pack, SiteCreator and Instant!TEAMROOM are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. All other company names and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
EDITOR'S NOTE: All Lotus news releases are available on the Internet, via the Lotus Development Corp. Home Page at lotus.com. The Lotus Home Page is an easy way to find information about Lotus and its business partners' products and services.
A copy of this release and other company information are also available via fax by dialing 1-800-57-LOTUS within the U.S. and Canada or 201-946-2336 outside the U.S. and Canada. |