Sametime Advanced announced
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As mentioned on Adam Gartenberg's blog Sametime 8.0 Advanced has been announced, and is expected to be available for download in a few days.
Sametime advanced adds some key new features to the Sametime product , you've probably seen them or similar features demoed by IBMers in the past, as they are pretty much based on what IBM has been using for the last few years internally.
* Persistent group chat
* Broadcast tools to search for experts and share, capture, and reuse knowledge in real time
* Instant screen sharing
* Geographic location services
My favourite new feature is not Persistent chat, nor broadcast tools, it's Instant screen sharing. This feature to me is the one that users will understand the quickest and will save support departments a great deal of time and trips to end users desks. Personally I feel this feature should have been part of Sametime Standard and was very disappointed when I found out you have to buy Sametime Advanced to get it. It's actually just a client plugin and the feature even worked with previous Sametime server versions, so it's purely a marketing pricing strategy that made it part of Sametime Advanced. Hmm maybe an opportunity for an OpenNTF plugin project.
The features will require at least one additional server but in reality you will probably end up with more. The additional functionality requires the following servers (included with product)
* WebSphere® MQ V6.0.2
* WebSphere MQ EB (WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere Event Broker) V6.0.0.3
* DB2 Workgroup Server Edition V9.1
* DB2 Net Search Extender
* WebSphere Application Server V6.1.0.13
I have no idea, if the WebSphere Application Server etc. can be shared with the one required by connections etc. It would be great to see a RedBook covering all the different installation scenarios that exist if you start deploying the different Lotus solutions in your organization. It's always a disappointment to see the Domino store being ignored in these developments, as it can always be pushed as the competition as "See even IBM doesn't use the Domino database for their applications anymore", I would rather see the approach of having the Domino data store as the default, and offering customers the choice to use a different datastore, application server if they choose to do so. We keep getting told IBMs solutions are Open, so why can't they use the "Open" interfaces of Domino, DB2, Oracle or whatever and not worry about the datastore?
I hope IBM comes up with a good Sametime hosting story soon (not just for Web Meetings, but also for IM), as this kind of setup is going to be very difficult for most SMBs to manage, the idea of a single box happily running your Lotus Domino and companion products looks to be long gone and likely to never come back.
The price difference for between Standard and Advanced runs between approximately 30 and 45 dollars depending upon you being a new or existing customer.
Some screenshots here. I must admit I was amazed when I looked at the Instant Share screenshot, IBM marketing may be getting a clue. They are showing their other products in the screenshot, about time.
As mentioned on Adam Gartenberg's blog Sametime 8.0 Advanced has been announced, and is expected to be available for download in a few days.
Sametime advanced adds some key new features to the Sametime product , you've probably seen them or similar features demoed by IBMers in the past, as they are pretty much based on what IBM has been using for the last few years internally.
* Persistent group chat
* Broadcast tools to search for experts and share, capture, and reuse knowledge in real time
* Instant screen sharing
* Geographic location services
My favourite new feature is not Persistent chat, nor broadcast tools, it's Instant screen sharing. This feature to me is the one that users will understand the quickest and will save support departments a great deal of time and trips to end users desks. Personally I feel this feature should have been part of Sametime Standard and was very disappointed when I found out you have to buy Sametime Advanced to get it. It's actually just a client plugin and the feature even worked with previous Sametime server versions, so it's purely a marketing pricing strategy that made it part of Sametime Advanced. Hmm maybe an opportunity for an OpenNTF plugin project.
The features will require at least one additional server but in reality you will probably end up with more. The additional functionality requires the following servers (included with product)
* WebSphere® MQ V6.0.2
* WebSphere MQ EB (WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere Event Broker) V6.0.0.3
* DB2 Workgroup Server Edition V9.1
* DB2 Net Search Extender
* WebSphere Application Server V6.1.0.13
I have no idea, if the WebSphere Application Server etc. can be shared with the one required by connections etc. It would be great to see a RedBook covering all the different installation scenarios that exist if you start deploying the different Lotus solutions in your organization. It's always a disappointment to see the Domino store being ignored in these developments, as it can always be pushed as the competition as "See even IBM doesn't use the Domino database for their applications anymore", I would rather see the approach of having the Domino data store as the default, and offering customers the choice to use a different datastore, application server if they choose to do so. We keep getting told IBMs solutions are Open, so why can't they use the "Open" interfaces of Domino, DB2, Oracle or whatever and not worry about the datastore?
I hope IBM comes up with a good Sametime hosting story soon (not just for Web Meetings, but also for IM), as this kind of setup is going to be very difficult for most SMBs to manage, the idea of a single box happily running your Lotus Domino and companion products looks to be long gone and likely to never come back.
The price difference for between Standard and Advanced runs between approximately 30 and 45 dollars depending upon you being a new or existing customer.
Some screenshots here. I must admit I was amazed when I looked at the Instant Share screenshot, IBM marketing may be getting a clue. They are showing their other products in the screenshot, about time.
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Comments
Nice writeup on Sametime Advanced. There is some significant technology the product leverages in the Websphere/MQ capabilities of the web application server that not readily available in other application servers. I agree there isa need to publish a paper decsribing some of the new 'RTC4web' architecture that Pat Galvin, Sametime Architect, covered in his Lotusphere talk.
One example is to deliver a very scalable multi way instant broadcast engine for alerts and to notify all users of changes in persistent chats rooms (potentially thousands of users.
Interesting idea to build cross portfolio deployment materials. Certainly something for IBM services or or even a partner to step up and offer.
Posted by Rob Ingram At 05:39:37 PM On 03/25/2008 | - Website - |
* WebSphere MQ EB (WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere Event Broker) V6.0.0.3
* DB2 Workgroup Server Edition V9.1
* DB2 Net Search Extender
* WebSphere Application Server V6.1.0.13
All this to save a chat on disk
Not a green product.
Posted by Wassim At 09:45:57 PM On 03/25/2008 | - Website - |
SAD!"
Posted by Paul B At 05:23:59 AM On 03/26/2008 | - Website - |
Its an incorrect assumption that the Sametime Advanced infrastructure requires multiple server boxes. All its components can be installed and run on a single server. You can optionally split the deployment. Its entirely a scaling and deployment based decision based on how many users you are serving. Look at the Linux appware install option for a complete integrated appliance like install.
Posted by Rob Ingram At 08:44:48 AM On 03/26/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Wassim At 09:07:39 AM On 03/26/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Rob Ingram At 10:59:15 PM On 03/26/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Andrei Kouvchinnikov At 11:26:47 AM On 03/29/2008 | - Website - |