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Connectria relaunches a unified hosting brand including Lotus products

I am pleased to announce that we (Connectria) have brought in our subsidiary Managed Hosting division, RedPlaid, to create a unified hosting solution.
Launched in 2006, REDPLAID Managed Hosting (“REDPLAID”) targeted small to mid-sized organizations that wanted secure and reliable Windows & Linux hosting solutions with a wide range of managed services. REDPLAID leveraged Connectria’s experience in delivering highly reliable and secure solutions that it had built for companies like Deutsche Bank and IBM. These solutions were packaged into standardized offerings that could meet the needs of a wide audience at very attractive prices. Since its inception, REDPLAID’s business grew exponentially, providing a complementary offer to its parent, Connectria, whose focus has been providing complex hosting solutions for large enterprises.

With the blending of all the services, we now offer under a single umbrella:
  • self managed
  • managed
  • complex
  • cloud


Visit our new Connectria website today and find out why we offer the best in Lotus Software hosting and management.

Eat.Sleep.Host    It is what we do.

Image:Connectria relaunches a unified hosting brand including Lotus products

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    On Monday, August 23rd, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Shoretel launches Lotus Foundations Integration

In news from VoiceCon today..
ShoreTel® , the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems with fully integrated Unified Communications (UC), and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that general availability of ShoreTel for IBM Lotus Foundations is planned for April, 2010. ShoreTel for IBM Lotus Foundations is a unique unified communications and collaboration (UCC) offering for small and midsize businesses.

This affordable, "UCC-in-a-box" solution is designed for the SMB budget and combines comprehensive enterprise-class UCC features, including mobility, security, email, presence, instant messaging and advanced IP telephony, in an appliance-based solution. With survival dial tone and built-in redundancy, ShoreTel for IBM Lotus Foundations contains integrated intelligent data backup for enterprise-level reliability. The solution is quick and easy to deploy in just a few clicks, and does not require on-site expertise, so SMBs can focus on running their business, not IT.

With the pish of Unified Communications, it is interesting and exciting to see the partner race to capture part of the Lotus market by the telephony providers.
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    On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Rumor mill - Lotus Foundations Wild

On a call troubleshooting an upgrade of a client from Nitix Blue to Lotus Foundations Start, it was mentioned that we had hacked the system already on the Nitix server.  This is quite true as I migrated in an existing Domino server, which breaks all the rules.  I manahged to get most of it working and use the Domino interface for user management instead of the web one.  All the rest worked fine.  Virus, spam, etc etc etc.

Well on the call they mentioned a new Foundations Wild that would allow you to run a Domino server on the Nitix backend wihtout all the integration issues currently faced.  Just thought that was interesting.
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    On Tuesday, December 16th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Clearing more air on Lotus Foundations

While traveling, a saw Ed posted a Lotus Foundations blog entry that got some good comments and linked to some new Foundations blog sites.  As part of one of the first resellers, I addressed many of the issues that are being brought up in the comments on Ed's blog.  While I brought some of these items up before in anotehr blog posting, here is more of my impressions:
  • Lotus Foundations is currently being marketed in the wrong place.  Hands down.  The only people that really know about it are Lotus shops that are already biased on how the Domino architecture works.  We have sold a few of these now and not a single non-Domino shop have heard of Nitix, much rather Foundations.
  • The thought of being able to migrate a domain in or utilizing Foundations as an extension point should have been done before the release.  There is no reason this isn't built in to help push sales of this for remote workers and offices
  • The restrictions of how the Org name is built defeats the way Domino works, from the first Foundations install, in terms of multiple servers.  Since it uses DNS, it creates O's of the same name for each server.  So no calendaring lookups nor native NRPC routing becomes available.
  • The server and cert id are on the file system but are keyed to the Nitix environment.  You can't easily replace them without breaking the automation of the server.
  • Pushing hard for extended Lotus products, like Sametime is a key selling point that is needed sooner.

I could go on some more, but I think the push needs to be expanded outside of the Lotus partner realm.  Most of you deal with Lotus customers and not in the competitive landscape of the SMB world against things like Google Apps.  So introducing this without any previous visibility to the SMB customer is an immediate hamper.
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    On Tuesday, June 17th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Misconceptions in the Lotus Foundations Start launch propoganda

Now that it is official (as noted by Stuart in CollaborationMatters.com today), IBM officially announced Lotus Foundations Start 1.0 in a press release.  There are a few items we need to clear up (one disclaimer, I am part of a reseller and they are selling units fast)

Let's start here:
Whether you need to set up an office network, connect branch offices, protect your data, or provide remote access, e-mail, and collaboration capabilities to your employees, Lotus Foundations Start can help

You will only be connecting branch offices if they wish to hit a single server at a central location or if you only want to connect the underlying Linux software.  Lotus will not be connecting in this first release as a hub and spoke server topology.  They way they generate the certifiers prohibits it from being done properly.  Since the server run heavily on proper DNS, you cannot cross certify the same O name since version 5 of Domino.  This stops them from working together as expected.  So picture a single server or major cross certification going on.

Provides the reliability and security you deserve with a small footprint Linux-based server, while being extremely easy to use.

If you all remember, I posted pictures of the normal server.  It is equal to a 4U server in a rack if you laid it sideways.  It comes as a tower.  Now, you can buy an applianceware version which can go on whatever server you wish.  The default small server edition is truly small.  I carry it with me in my luggage now to have a full portable server.  But that will only support a handful of users.  Most of you will want the applicanceware.

Facilitates the creation and sharing of information, e-mail, and calendars using IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software.

Beware of which license you get.  While this is true, email and calendaring, what about other applications?  Some of the smaller ones comes with Messaging Express, so those are not licensed to run apps.

Saying all of this, I think Foundations has a large ability to dominate in the SMB market with some tuning for future releases.  They are already selling units, as I mentioned.  So with the help of Lotus in working to adjust these and a few other issues, this solution is the way to go
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    On Tuesday, May 27th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotus Foundations dilemma part 1

Thanks to my wonderful (NITIXBlue) Lotus Foundations reseller, I have my hands on a Mark I server running silently away.  However, moving an existing Domino server onto this new box is proving difficult.  Due to how they have tightly tied Nitix to the Domino install, moving over an existing server seems to break a list of things, while still letting Domino work successfully.  Well you would think everything.  here is part one of the saga.

So if I register a user, even with the cert having the same password, it will only create it in Foundations, not in Domino.  Let the games begin.
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    On Monday, March 10th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotus Foundations picturama (and discrepancy)

Here is what Mike Rhodin held up at Lotusphere (covered in yellow construction paper) as a Lotus Foundations server/appliance
Mike and something

Here is the picture of what a current Lotus Foundations server looks like when it gets delivered:
Foundations servers today

I am betting the later one will be the little small box that Mike held on stage. But the good news... this box rocks so far (waiting on 8.x to be issued), but it seems to do everything. Look for a list of blog posts on it.

UPDATE: It seems that was a basic 5 user box running mail for client access only, no web. I have had some pings questioning my expectations and what I thought that box was, I will clarify in another posting.
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    On Monday, March 3rd, 2008   by Chris Miller        

ANNOUNCEMENT: Lotus Foundations partnership status acquired

For all of you looking for a provider for Lotus Foundations, I have the person for you that is one of the first IBM Lotus Foundations partners.  So yes you can buy and wrap your own services/installation or simply point them over for purchases.  Drop me a comment here or email if you need immediate info until their press release goes out today. (I just got the ok to say it first!).  I am happy to be working with them in this new SMB opportunity

Here is the IBM quote of the acquisition IBM completed for Foundations:

IBM has completed the acquisition of Net Integration Technologies Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based, privately held company that offers a complete business server software solution for small businesses that is simple and easy to maintain. IBM will launch a new line of products and solutions for small to medium-businesses called IBM Lotus Foundations that incorporates both Net Integration and IBM technology. Added to the IBM Lotus Software family, IBM Lotus Foundations will provide an all-in-one collaboration platform including e-mail, file management, directory services, firewall, backup and recovery and office productivity tools. Through IBM Lotus Foundations, businesses can also access "Bluehouse," a new software-as-a-service offering from IBM that links companies together in a virtual enterprise to help them gain the scale and strength of larger organizations.

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    On Tuesday, February 26th, 2008   by Chris Miller