News

Hong Kong, March 6, 2009 - IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled LotusLive, a cloud-based portfolio of social networking and collaboration services designed to help companies of all sizes work smarter by making it easy for them to connect and work together.

Speaking at the launch, Tony Lee, Brand Manager, Lotus, Software Group, IBM China/Hong Kong Limited, said LotusLive emphasizes simplicity and ease of use, with no requirement for an up-front investment in IT support resources or infrastructure.

"With the tightening economy, Hong Kong businesses are more focused than ever on finding solutions to work smarter and capture opportunities while keeping a close eye on costs. LotusLive will help businesses of all sizes save time and money by making it easier for teams to create, edit and share documents, and to conduct business in real-time with colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers.

"As a cloud-based online service, there is no need to purchase or house new hardware required for running software, and no need for additional technical support. Customers of LotusLive can instead focus their IT resources on other strategic business projects," said Mr. Lee.

LotusLive will be offered in a hosted, software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Different versions and bundles of LotusLive services will be rolled-out during 2009, tailored to meet specific needs in the Hong Kong market.

Sean Poulley, Vice President, Online Collaboration Services, Lotus, IBM Software Group said while most organizations already have collaboration tools which they use internally, the challenge today is how businesses can connect externally, whether with customers, partners, or their supply chain.

"The goal of LotusLive is to simplify and improve the interactions between organizations and their customers and partners. Particularly for organizations with a mobile workforce or those that have employees located remotely from the main office, LotusLive will deliver the benefits of a large-scale implementation with the cost-savings of the SaaS model," he said.

LotusLive provides a single destination for all IBM Lotus online collaboration tools, including social networking, e-mail, file sharing and Web conferencing:

Networking and Collaborating

LotusLive Engage:

Extends the online meeting experience by bringing together essential collaboration tools during and after a meeting with capabilities such as file storing and sharing, instant messaging and chart creation. Users can build online communities around the Web meeting experience and then engage with them in a security-rich environment.

LotusLive Connections:

Integrated suite of Web collaboration services including file sharing, activity management, instant messaging, and networking capabilities – without the Web meeting service.

Web Conferencing

LotusLive Meetings:

Full-featured, online meetings with integrated Web, voice and video conferencing.

LotusLive Events:

Online Event management service that includes Lotus Sametime Unyte Meeting plus registration, promotion, post-event follow up tools and more.

E-mail

LotusLive Notes:

Time-tested and proven Lotus Notes e-mail hosted by IBM. This service is a simple way to provide industry-leading online email solutions for businesses.

LotusLive iNotes:

Security-rich, Web-based messaging service for exchanging e-mail and files with a Web browser and Internet connection.

Built using open Web-based standards and an open business model, LotusLive can easily integrate with third-party applications. With "Click to Cloud" - the ability to seamlessly link on-premise solutions with LotusLive services, IBM will help customers extend the value of their existing investments by making it easy to bridge solutions inside the firewall to the cloud. LotusLive also integrates with LinkedIn's professional network, Salesforce.com's CRM application, and allows users to call Skype contacts from within their LotusLive contacts.

Learn more about the LotusLive portfolio at: www.LotusLive.com.