Wainhouse Research

IBM's Unified Communications and Collaboration Strategy

Big Blue's Big Bet on Eclipse and Sametime

This report provides a deep view into IBM Lotus' unified communications and collaboration strategy. The new extensible and embeddable Sametime platform is explored, including a detailed look at the product's capabilities and architecture. The report identifies what Sametime delivers out of the box and reveals which functionalities one must go to a partner company to obtain. It also discusses how third party telephony, audio/video conferencing, and IM hygiene/archiving systems integrate with Sametime and includes detailed descriptions of 33 Sametime partner offerings. The report identifies 21 strengths IBM Lotus and Sametime have in the unified communications marketplace, along with 10 weaknesses. It compares IBM and Microsoft in 17 market and product characteristics, noting for each whether IBM or Microsoft exhibit leadership or are at parity one with another. The report concludes with our assessment of IBM's chances for success in the unified communications market.