Lotusphere 2010 Opens, Closes with Shatner, Project Vulcan

Lotusphere 2010 Opens, Closes with Shatner, Project Vulcan By Clint Boulton

None other than William Shatner kicked off the festivities at the 17th annual Lotusphere event. His message was that collaboration is a means of opening doors, not that it’s the final frontier.

Coming in 2010, Lotus Notes Traveler for Android will enable enterprises to exchange encrypted e-mail using Android-based smartphones. No word on whether this will be free, or a final release date.

Available free from Apple’s App Store, Companion is an encrypted e-mail plug-in for the reigning champ smartphone.

The “Next” version of WebSphere Portal will include Lotus Connections content, says Jeff Schick, IBM’s vice president of social software.

IBM Executive IT Architect Ron Sebastian shows off his profile in WebSphere Portal Next.

IBM’s Lotus Sametime 8.5 boasts a Web 2.0 look and feel.

IBM continues to port capabilities created in its on-premises applications to its LotusLive hosted apps, adding the on-premises version of communities to its hosted version.

IBM says LotusLive Notes is getting a fat bonus with a 5GB mailbox for each user, plus 1GB file storage and Sametime instant messaging support.

New from IBM, LotusLive Labs is the breeding ground for several new IBM research projects, including Slide Library, Event Maps and Collaborative Recorded Meetings. LotusLive Labs is also the launch pad for Project Vulcan.

Here’s a snapshot of Project Vulcan, IBM’s next-generation collaboration platform with social and business analytics.