IBM Unveils New Project Focused on Future of Collaboration

By Barb Mosher | Published Jan 21, 2010

Want to know what the next generation of collaboration software looks like? Hmm…so do we. It looks like IBM (news, site) is going to tell us.

I Have Seen the Future

At Lotusphere this week, they unveiled a new project that will be the "blueprint for the future of collaboration". Building on existing capabilities, this blueprint — called Project Vulcan — will demonstrate the convergence of:

Cloud and On-premise computing
Collaborative business apps and social networks
Delivery across all channels and devices including desktop, mobile and netbooks

The project, which is actually the next generation of Lotus collaboration software, includes the combination of social and business analytics, something you definitely need to include in your collaborative business applications.

IBM's Project Vulcan (via Ed Brill's Blog)

You can expect to see its capabilities in future versions of Quickr, Connections and LotusLive, in addition to Lotus Notes, Domino and Websphere Portal.

IBM refers to its design as "a loosely couple architecture, it will work with existing open system and provide flexibility and responsiveness to rapidly changing business requirements and personal preferences."

Now we aren't exactly sure this is something groundbreaking in the collaboration space, but it is new for IBM. So we obviously want to know more.

Do you want to know more about this new project? Expect to see a development environment in the newly announced LotusLive Labs sometime in the second half of this year. Until then, may the force be with you. oh wait, that's Start Wars…Beam me up Scotty!