Hooray! IBM Lotus Moves Notes Into The World Of Presence

Some months ago, about the time Microsoft announced Office Communicator, I had a conversation with IBM's Ed Brill in which I urged him to push IBM Lotus Notes forward into the new world of presence information and the use of presence technology. "We're working on it," he said, "trust me." I never believe in the promises of any software company, so I just sort of shoveled those words into the back of my mind, and didn't think more about it. But it's beginning to look as if Mr. Brill wasn't kidding.

I haven't seen it myself, but Nemertes Research's Melanie Turek reports that the new Hannover Notes client has the sort of presence information we shall all learn to depend on going forward. More important, Hannover uses it pretty much the way that Office Communicator, Antepo, and other presence products do. (see Nemertes: IBM Announcement Moves Lotus Collaboration Deeper Into Real-Time).

IBM Lotus Notes users should feel good about that because presence information will modernize Notes, spread its reach, and make it more useable and useful as a messaging and collaboration tool in the future. I personally feel good about it because it adds more height to the Presence Technology Soapbox that has now become part of the editorial foundation of Messaging Pipeline.

How cool is that? Very.