Andrew continues, "Forcing organizations to plan to retire Domino also forces them to consider their options. IBM cannot assume that these organizations will simply go straight from Domino to WebSphere. The prudent thing would be to weigh all application server and messaging platforms requirements at such a time. WebSphere is an impressive platform, but it is currently in danger of coming to be perceived simply as a brand name for a product line. IBM is putting too many products under the WebSphere umbrella. This makes it hard to work out what WebSphere really is. Or perhaps that's what they want."

Naomi Sargeant, Sales Manager for ESNA Ltd. (at http://www.esna.co.uk) believes that bringing many products and solutions under one umbrella and calling it WebSphere is good marketing. "However, IBM has made the licensing of these products very complex and costly to sell for business partners. IBM sales people also lose focus if your business model is not pure license revenue earning."

Jon C. Hosford of Innovative Technology Services Corporation (at http://www.itscorp.ws) believes "IBM is clearly in the upper right quadrant of the value chart." He explains, "They recognized long ago that the way to deliver technology is to integrate it within their own organization, to understand it thoroughly, then to share it with customers. Nobody delivers a 'class act' like IBM. Partnering with IBM today requires commitment because the pace and discipline of technology evolution that IBM represents is the best in the world. Partnering with IBM requires a commitment to constant learning and a passion for making technology work for people.

According to Sherri Taylor of Computer Training & Consulting (at http://www.ctcfl.com) we can never get used to this business standing still. "We must always be evaluating the latest technologies, even if our evaluation tells us to stay put for awhile. We are excited about the integration between Domino and WebSphere. We are anxious to see IBM's support for us as business partners in this arena."

Meanwhile, Cassandra Hernandez of Advanced Systems Group (at http://www.AdvancedSystems.com) says that "with Lotus and Domino, IBM has demonstrated its ability to deliver industry leading groupware and collaboration in a secure and scalable technology which can grow with any organization. With WebSphere, IBM is once again leading the industry with J2EE, showing its commitment to open standards base computing and making e-business available whether you run IBM technologies or not. Simply stated, IBM and IBM Premier Partners like Advanced Systems Group offer the 'best of breed' in middleware and hardware infrastructure to optimize the valued IT budget."

According to Joe Licari, Director of Product Management for Sybari Software (at http://www.sybari.com), "Like other successful technology providers, IBM is clearly managing the challenge of providing services needed by its existing customer base while introducing new technologies that extend their position in the market. In order to continue to benefit from the productivity gains that new technology brings, organizations that implement IBM's solutions will require security tools that allow them to better manage both mixed and migration environments."