Providing evidence of increasing migration to the cloud for collaboration capabilities, IBM has announced that more than 200 partners are planning to sell to their customers LotusLive cloud services. New integrated solutions from partners are bringing LotusLive to new global customers in the insurance, banking and other industries around the world. The news comes just 2 months after the introduction of the LotusLive partner program.
Additionally, IBM is extending the capabilities of Lotus Foundations by integrating DB2 Express database software into the core appliance offering free of charge to better serve small and medium business (SMB) customers. There is no database size limit, no limit on the number of instances or databases per server and no restriction on the number of users.
This reinforces IBM's commitment to SMB customers who require IT solutions that are easy to use and acquire. These developments are appealing to Microsoft customers and partners in the wake of Microsoft's discontinuation of its flagship offering for SMB, Windows Essential Business Server. Microsoft announced its withdrawal on March 7, leaving partners and customers looking for alternatives.
"We can rely on IBM to address our midmarket customer needs unlike Microsoft who has left us in the cold with this abrupt withdrawal of Enterprise Business Server," states Bernie Leung, CEO of MESA Technology. "I will invest more with our IBM partnership and guide Small Business Server customers to move to IBM since I don't see how resellers can make money or avoid channel conflict with Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite."
For more information on LotusLive, go here.