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BUSINESS PARTNERS SPEAK OUT
cc:Mail to Domino Migration: the NetWare challenge
By Ron Herardian
We might as well get it over with. Eventually, you're going to have to meet contributing editor Ron Herardian and it might as well be in the Premier Issue. Ron's a brilliant Lotus Business Partner and former Lotus employee. He'll be regularly writing important technical articles for DominoPower. But Ron's also got a unique perspective as a "real world" Lotus Business Partner. Most issues, we'll run the Business Partners Speak Out guest editorial so you can get the word directly from those who are dealing with Notes and Domino every day. Since these guys are in the trenches, their opinions are often unvarnished and direct. That certainly describes Ron's perspective. Never let it be said that we always suck up to Lotus.
Lotus has discontinued support of Domino on the Novell NetWare platform. Dropping support of the NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) platform further alienates unsatisfied cc:Mail customers, many of whom are already migrating away from the effectively discontinued cc:Mail product line. Lotus' latest move could make GroupWise a more attractive alternative compared to Domino, but a boost for GroupWise could negatively impact sales of Microsoft Exchange more than those Domino.
According to customer interviews I've conducted, approximately 90% of cc:Mail customers host their cc:Mail databases on NetWare file servers. Lotus claims that only 60% of cc:Mail customers run on NetWare but the Lotus number does not distinguish between where cc:Mail Router and gateway software runs and where cc:Mail databases are stored.
Exchange winning over Domino
Based on client discussions, of cc:Mail customers that are migrating away from cc:Mail the majority are migrating to Exchange. The US Army, US Navy, GE, and Lockheed Martin are examples. Most are migrating to Exchange as their primary messaging platform. Lotus officials have pointed out, however, that pockets of advanced groupware technology remain in many customer organizations.
Free clients weigh in the mix
Microsoft's Outlook and Netscape's Navigator clients are free. Outlook is also a part of Office, Microsoft's second monopoly, and Outlook has saturated the channel. The only way Lotus can compete with a flood of free competing products is to make their own client free or nearly free for cc:Mail customers. Lotus cannot compete with Microsoft for cc:Mail migration business while charging for the Notes client.
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