Both Domino and WebSphere deliver best-of-breed performance and optimized tools for specific types of e-business applications. When used together, each compliments the other. IBM bills the results of integration as creating unrivaled flexibility and power in world-class applications.

In fact, IBM's presence is being felt more and more at Lotus. The Domino line of products is billed as "workflow" or "document management," while WebSphere is the solution for Internet and intranet Web sites and applications.

The heavy promotion of WebSphere by IBM has caused many Domino developers to worry. Many fret that Domino will be swallowed by WebSphere or pushed into the background. Domino is an application server just like WebSphere, so what is the future?

Thankfully, the answer is not one or the other. Both Domino and WebSphere serve different needs, and they can be used in concert. Thus, they are not competing or interchangeable. Rather, they complement each other.

What is WebSphere?
To better understand their differences, let's take a look at IBM's definition of both products.

The Lotus Domino Server is used to build collaborative/workflow solutions. In addition, Domino facilitates the integration of business processes with an Internet/Intranet application.

Conversely, WebSphere's primary purpose is the building of transaction-based Web applications that utilize the Java programming language. Java is the focal point of the product. This includes servlets, Enterprise Java Beans, Java Server Pages, and JDBC.

WebSphere is IBM's foray into the overcrowded Web application server market. It is a complete Java servlet-based Web server environment. It consists of a run-time environment and an integrated tools environment. It runs on top of most HTTP server engines, including a free offering from IBM and Domino.

Currently, WebSphere is available in three flavors: standard, advanced, and enterprise. The standard edition contains basic support for the Java features, XML, and more. Advanced takes it a step further by providing an Enterprise JavaBean engine and high-performance database and transaction connections. Finally, the Enterprise edition adds the transaction processing features of the IBM TXSeries and the object management features of IBM Component Broker. Let's take a closer look at the technologies included in the basic, standard edition of WebSphere.