Mar 29 2016 29. March 2016 25. May 2021 by Nele Zymek

IBM Connect 2016 – February 2016

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Events focusing on IBM Notes have become few and far between. Other than SNoUG (Swiss Notes User Group) and DNUG, we’re now seeing more trade shows and conferences that only address technical issues and information technology subjects in general, or mostly revolve around enterprise solutions as a whole. Although IBM Notes may well appear as one topic among many, the Notes community itself still meets at what are smaller gatherings. Major IBM Notes events have become rare indeed, an unfortunate development particularly in light of how IBM Notes continues to enjoy such a faithful following.

Key topics at IBM Connect in Orlando

Another important event this year was IBM Connect (formerly Lotusphere) in Orlando, Florida, which was held at the beginning of February and ventured a glimpse into the future of digital work and a look at the latest IBM products. As the premier social business and digital experience conference, IBM Connect had a great deal to offer this year. Naturally, and above all, the company used the conference to make product announcements and present itself in a manner that was uniquely creative and innovative.

Connections: The business social network platform from IBM

IBM Connections is a network that IBM is vigorously promoting and was a dominant theme at the conference. Designed to be a company’s central communications platform, IBM Connections is an application that will help overall simplify and accelerate the way people and businesses interact with networks. Its most remarkable feature is how Connections helps empower you to fully utilize the full potential of social media. Besides offering an extensive social analytics feature, Connections is also entirely flexible and mobile. This means it can be used on any mobile device and, what’s more important, can be easily utilized in combination with IBM software and a diverse range of other software products, which includes such Microsoft applications as SharePoint, Explorer, Outlook and Office. In its role as a company’s central communications platform, Connections also integrates the e-mail hosting solution IBM Verse. The purpose of any central communications platform is to bundle what has become a seemingly unmanageable number of communications networks and applications.

What changes are in store for IBM Notes?

According to Connect 2016, everything will pretty much stay the same for IBM Notes users. Modifications and improvements will continue being made periodically. One thing that still makes Notes databases so interesting is the benefit of being able to work offline with certain applications. IBM intends to upgrade the Domino server in the future and IBM Verse will soon have the Domino server as its base. What’s more, there is supposed to be a Domino connector for the last three versions of Microsoft Outlook on the way. Some of the other major subjects addressed at Connect 2016 were Watson Analytics and IBM Toscana.