With the advent of WebSphere and the uncertainty that had surrounded the introduction of ND6, you may actually find yourself in the situation of having to re-sell the very idea of Notes and Domino to your organization. Or perhaps you need some convincing yourself. If so, you'll agree Dmitry Irtegov provides a public service in this article as he puts into words all the things about Notes and Domino we were attracted to in the first place.

Activities of modern organizations, both business corporations and government institutions, are based on interaction among employees, departments, and external entities. Controlled access to important information, re-use of previous work results, and document integrity protection are growing in importance. A major help in solving those tasks comes from using Lotus Notes and Domino based applications.

Lotus Domino--with its client/server mail environment, replication system, teamwork system, and Internet support services---is the ideal infrastructure for building a distributed information management environment. The universal object warehouse underlying these technologies provides powerful tools for implementing distributed applications free of complexities typical for traditional relational DBMS (Database Management Software). Lotus Notes and Domino provides information management tools compatible with advanced Internet/intranet technologies and appropriate for creating a reliable teamwork environment.

Together, Notes and Domino represent a full-fledged teamwork solution and allow you to solve complex technological tasks at any organizational level. Lotus Domino is simultaneously an email server, application server (to work with documents and create business automation systems), Web server with advanced capabilities for integration with relational DBMS and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. Lotus Notes is an integrated mail and Internet client. In addition, Lotus Notes also provides extensive opportunities for mobile (team) working.

Many of these technologies were well known before the inception of Notes. However, when combined together into one system, they bring in absolutely new value proposition to users.