Microsoft Updates Tools To Woo Domino Faithful

Just days before the annual Lotusphere love fest kicks off in Florida, Microsoft unveiled updated tools to ease migration from Lotus Notes/Domino to Microsoft's own "collaboration platform."

In years past, the company would have focused these tools on Exchange Server, but Microsoft's collaboration platform now comprises several other products such as SharePoint (both Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server) and Microsoft's Live Communication Server (LCS).

Due later this quarter, the Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino will examine a customer's current Lotus application environment and suggest a framework for moving those applications to one or more of the Microsoft applications.

Data Migrator 2006 for Lotus Domino, using technologies licensed from Proposion, and due in the second quarter, eases migration of template-based data in Domino to Windows Sharepoint Services templates.

Microsoft is also updating the existing Exchange Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes/Domino and added three new Windows Sharepoint Services application templates to the 30 that have been available since August.

"Messaging migration is just part of [the story]," said Megan Kidd, senior product manager for Exchange Server. "Mail is a key part, but it's part of a broader environment and what we hear from customers is they want to take advantage of their existing investments in Microsoft technologies."

Those technologies include Windows Sharepoint Services bundled in Windows Server, the instant messaging and app sharing in Live Communications Server and integrating "presence" information from Active Directory, said Roger Murff, group product manager.

Microsoft also claims several new Notes-to-"Microsoft-collaboration-platform" wins including First Data Corp., with 32,000 users, and Arcelor a global steel maker with 50,000 European users.