Email update – Lotus Notes and Zimbra
Over the past few months, the EDU IT team has looked at a number of collaboration suites (details will be available in this year’s Computing Plan).
After considerable investigation and deliberation, the IT Team has focused on two offerings – IBM’s Lotus suite, including Notes, Quickr and Sametime, and Zimbra.
While both platforms offer the standard email, calendaring and contacts options, there are significant differences in approach.
Lotus Notes is often described as ‘more than email’, and to gain true value from an investment in the IBM suite, we will likely look to use Domino as an application and intranet-style platform. The latest Notes release, including iNotes, has benefitted from a ‘design makeover’ . Quickr offers an excellent teaming option for Faculty, staff and researchers.
Conversely, Zimbra, with it’s focus on web delivery and an Ajax enhanced interface, offers a familiar webmail experience for faculty and students. With Zimbra as a platform, the need for support of a dedicated email client is greatly reduced i.e. there will be some users that prefer the functionality of a ‘fat client’, but the majority of users will look to use the web based or mobile options.
The EDU IT Team has created 2 pilot environments and invited faculty and staff to participate.