IBM Lotus Connections

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This article or section contains information about computer software currently in development, based on publicly available builds made available for testing. Information about it may change as the final release approaches and more information becomes available.

Lotus Connections

Developer(s)	IBM
Stable release	2.0
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	collaboration, web 2.0
License	License
Website	ibm.com

IBM Lotus Connections is a proprietary Web 2.0 social software application licensed by the Lotus Software division of IBM. The goal of Lotus Connections is to empower companies to be more innovative and help them execute more quickly by using dynamic networks of co-workers, partners and customers.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Core Modules 2.1 Homepage 2.2 Profiles 2.3 Dogear 2.4 Activities 2.5 Communities 2.6 Blogs 3 System Requirements 4 Plugins 5 References 6 External links 7 Related Blogs

[edit] Overview

Lotus Connections (or 'Connections' for short) was announced at Lotusphere 2007, and Version 1.0 shipped later that year on June 27. Version 2.0 shipped in June 2008 and Version 2.5 was announced at Lotusphere 2009. Version 2.5 is expected to be released in mid-2009.^[1]

Lotus Connections currently has six key modules:

• Homepage - a portal site which can federate information from many sources.
• Profiles - a social network service - primarily used to find people in the organisation.
• Communities - a collaborative space for people with common interests to work together.
• Blogs - a blogging service.
• Dogear - a social bookmarking service.
• Activities - a task management tool for groups of people to work together on a specific project or task.

Additionally, Lotus Connections 2.5 adds:

• Files - a content library for storing, sharing and revision management of computer files.
• Wikis - a Wiki system for publishing and editing content.

along with major updates to the Profiles and Communities modules^[2]

Lotus Connections makes significant use of open standards such as ATOM and RSS to integrate with other applications and provides a REST-like API for developers^[3]. Widgets can be added into Lotus Connections, including those from Google Gadgets and other services as well as custom developed ones^[4].

Lotus Connections is often described as the leading product in enterprise social software market^[5][6][7][8].

[edit] Core Modules

The six Lotus Connections modules are built on a set of services according to the service-oriented architecture concept. These modules take the form of applications which are hosted on IBM WebSphere Application Server. This design allows the modules to be hosted independently of each other and to support very large scale deployments.

[edit] Homepage

The Homepage module of Lotus Connections serves as a portal for user's social collaboration. Out of the box Lotus Connections provides 5 widgets^[9] which can be customised by the user.

IT Administrators can add new widgets for use by users.

As of version 2.5 and later, the Homepage module also includes a 'recent updates' display which shows changes such as new content posts and status updates which are relevant to the user. A system to update the users status via microblogging is also provided.

[edit] Profiles

The Profiles module provides an online directory of people within an organisation. Entries can be searched in many different ways out of the box^[10], such as by

• Keywords
• Responsibilities
• Interests
• Projects they are part of
• Their expertise
• Their business relationships
• Tags applied to their profile
• Their geographical location

User profiles typically contain information such as the their name, job role, base location, reporting chain and details about the Lotus Connection bookmarks ('Dogears'), activities, communities and blogs they are part of. The information shown can be customised and new fields added^[11]

[edit] Dogear

Dogear is a social bookmarking service which allows users to bookmark web-content and tag it. Dogear allows for bookmarks to be located via keyword, tags and the user who created the bookmark.

In addition to simple searching, Dogear can dynamically refine search results with the user identifying users or other tags of interest to them.

Dogear is able to output collections of bookmarks via standard feeds and provides an API so that third-party tools can integrate with it^[12]. As of Connections 2.0.1, the API can be used for:

• Searching bookmarks
• Getting a list of bookmark tags
• Getting a list of popular bookmarks
• Adding bookmarks to a Web page
• Adding a list of bookmarks to a Web page
• Adding popular bookmarks to a Web page
• Creating bookmarks
• Deleting bookmarks
• Retrieving bookmarks
• Updating bookmarks

[edit] Activities

The Activities module of Connections is a task management system which enables groups of people to easily collaborate together on a task. Activities are structured in a nested tree hierarchy where entries, to-do items and sections branch off from the root activity.

Any non-section entity in an activity can contain rich-text and custom fields for files, links, text, people and dates. To-Do items can also have a due date and a person the To-do is assigned to.

[edit] Communities

The Communities module enables ad-hoc and planned collaboration around a project or area of interest. A Connections Community can have its own blog, forums, bookmarks (called 'Dogears'), activities and feeds^[13]. Connections 2.5 will add Wikis and Files^[14] to the available features.

[edit] Blogs

The Blogs module provides blogging functionality for groups and individuals.

[edit] System Requirements

• Operating Systems^[15]
  • Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 4)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
  • AIX 5.3.0.4 and later (Power 4 and 5)

• Application Servers^[15]
  • IBM WebSphere (6.1.0.13 or better)

• Databases^[15]
  • Oracle (10g 10.2.0.3 or better recommended)
  • IBM DB2 (v9.1 FP4 or better recommended)
  • Microsoft SQL Server (2005 or better recommended)

• LDAP Servers^[15]
  • IBM Tivoli Directory Server 6.0.0.3 and 6.1
  • IBM Lotus Domino 7.0.2, 8.0, and 8.0.1
  • Microsoft Active Directory 2003 SP2, and Active Directory Application Mode
  • Sun Java System Directory Server 5.2 (iPlanet) and 6
  • Novell eDirectory 8.8

[edit] Plugins

Lotus Connections integrates into existing applications via plug-ins. Out-of-the-box, the following plugins are available:

• Lotus Notes v7+
• Lotus Sametime v7.5+
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Windows Explorer
• RIM BlackBerry
• WebSphere Portal
• Microsoft Sharepoint (coming in 2.5)
• iPhone (coming in 2.5)

Other integration with Microsoft Sharepoint and Microsoft Office Communications Server has also been done.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• IBM Social Computing software
• THE UC VIEW - Independent resource for Lotus Sametime, Quickr, Connections projects
• THE VIEW - Independent guidance for Lotus professionals

[edit] Related Blogs

• The Collaboration Soapbox (IBM)
• The Connections Blog
• Lotusconnections.org
• Socialize Me
• Synch.rono.us
• The Sametime Blog

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