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BT Offers IBM Workplace Service

Posted on: Friday, 4 August 2006, 06:00 CDT

BT Group Plc has announced a managed collaboration service based on Workplace from IBM Corp.

The Managed Workplace offering from BT Global Services uses the IBM software to create and roll out collaborative apps based on employees' roles and/or skill sets, connecting them with the business whether they are in the office or on mobile devices.

As such, it involves access a personalized workplace environment underscores by the WebSphere Portal from Big Blue, from which users share information and work together with colleagues, regardless of their physical location.

The service fills out BTGS's portfolio, which already consisted of Microsoft's Office Communications Server (formerly Live Communications Server), and essentially grows its addressable market to companies that are IBM-based.

Collaboration suites tend to be based on email servers, and since IBM's Domino and Microsoft Exchange are jointly about 80% of the corporate market, with around 40% each, BT can now offer a managed collaboration service into both camps.

The third largest player in the market is probably still Novell with its GroupWise-based offering, so it will be interesting to see whether BT extends it services on into that area.

On one level, it would seem unlikely, as there have been doubts expressed by analysts as to Novell's ongoing commitment to that product, given its corporate move to open source software in the wake of the acquisition of the SuSE distribution.

Source: Datamonitor

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