IBM releases LotusLive Engage for cloud-based collaboration and social networking
IBM has announced the commercial availability of LotusLive Engage, a social networking and collaboration cloud service. The company made the announcement today at Web 2.0 Expo. The product will be available on April 7.
LotusLive Engage is designed as a cloud-hosted company-to-company collaboration center that integrates social networking. Features include online meetings, profile and contact management, file sharing, instant messaging and project management tools. According to the announcement:
Integration is a cornerstone of the LotusLive design. The services are built using open Web-based standards and an open business model. LotusLive services will enable “Click to Cloud” -- the seamless integration of the LotusLive online services with existing on-premise Lotus solutions. “Click to Cloud” will help customers extend the value of their existing investments by making it easy to bridge solutions inside the firewall to the cloud.
"Due to the economy, we don’t travel as much. But it doesn’t mean we have to stop business," said Leslie Moore of Colgate-Palmolive. "Using the collaboration tools allows us to communicate quicker, more effectively, and actually be more proficient working with our employees, and also reaching out to our customers.
Other companies already using LotusLive Engage from beta are DuPont, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Comerica Bank and Nortel Networks.
"Companies coming together in the cloud quickly and easily to use powerful communication and collaboration tools that integrate with existing applications is key in the market today" said Sean Poulley, vice president, IBM Online Collaboration & Cloud Services.
IBM will demo LotusLive Engage at Web 2.0 Expo beginning tomorrow.