To be considered, products must be in full release at the time of judging. Some products will be familiar to you from prior years, but please take note of the newcomers as well.

The 2002 Lotus Advisor Editors' Choice Awards go to...

• ADMINISTRATION
• BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
• CRM APPLICATION
• DATA INTEGRATION
• DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
• KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
• MOBILE EXTENSIONS
• SECURITY
• WORKFLOW
• COOL NEW TOOL

  

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ADMINISTRATION

Remote Monitoring for Domino
Interliant Inc.
781-756-3848
http://www.interliant.com

IntelliWatch Pinnacle
Candle Corporation
310-535-3600
http://www.candle.com

Interliant offers Remote Monitoring for Domino, a new service that uses Candle's excellent IntelliWatch Pinnacle Domino administration tools. This remote monitoring service kicks Domino server administration up a notch. Remote Monitoring for Domino is part of Interliant INIT Messaging for Domino, which is an end-to-end service solution for Lotus Domino messaging and application servers. The service offers 24x7 monitoring and management, including backup, disaster recovery, and fulfillment. INIT Messaging also includes server and user administration and Domino infrastructure design, support, and installation.

IntelliWatch Pinnacle automatically profiles your Lotus Notes environment, then creates a self-starting performance management solution customized to your Notes requirements. IntelliWatch Pinnacle monitors each customer's server for connection loads and outages or mail routing issues and remotely controls the server to correct issues before they bring a critical system or Web site down. It offers advanced replication management and enhanced message management. IntelliWatch Pinnacle provides a variety of hosting capabilities, including Notes and Domino client-server hosting, enterprise Notes messaging hosting, and Internet, intranet, and extranet Web application hosting.

The INIT Messaging and IntelliWatch Pinnacle integrated solution provides error handling and application maintenance and monitoring, offering a single environment for logging all server activity. This gives customers an overall lifecycle management solution for the Lotus Notes and Domino platform.

Alisar Charting
Alisar Corporation
703-255-5425
http://www.alisarcharting.com

Looking for a new twist on planning and managing the goals of your organization? Look no further than Alisar Charting. This year's gold winner is a powerful idea put to good use in a simple Notes application. The tool captures strategic plans, project tasks, corporate vision, and even individual goals using the principles based on Structural Dynamics from The Path of Least Resistance, by Robert Fritz (Publisher's Group West, 1999).

Not only are the methods an excellent way to look at your business or project, but by building a tool on Domino, the goals and action steps are clearly visible to the entire team or organization. This makes business strategy and the path to achieve your goals clear, so everyone can contribute to the success of the organization. If you've had trouble motivating your project team and making it clear how their efforts support the overall goals of the project, check out Alisar Charting.

ezMerchant Collaborative Commerce Suite
BinaryTree.com
651-388-1611
http://www.binarytree.com

A long-time favorite, ezMerchant has improved again. Think of ezMerchant as e-commerce plus. It's a complete e-commerce framework you can also hook into a back-office system. You can also hook it into third-party tools for added functionality; for example, the Symbol bar code reader and Jump Technologies JumpCart System.

Symbol makes a small bar code reader approximately the size of a key chain ornament that stores bar codes as you read them and connects to a workstation or laptop USB port (Symbol also makes a wide array of bar code reading tools if you prefer an alternative).

BinaryTree.com built a lightweight Windows application that responds to the upload operation from the bar code reader and creates an order on an ezMerchant site based on those bar codes. If you're a manufacturer or distributor of cleaning supplies, your retailers probably already have their shelves marked with your bar codes for inventory and ordering purposes. To add value to your merchant site, have them download the ezMerchant bar code application and they can simply walk through their storeroom or display area and point and click on the items they want to order. Need two of the five gallon floor wax drums? Just scan the code twice and your order will be properly incremented. When you visit the ezMerchant site, your order is ready and all you have to do is review and process it -- simple.

BinaryTree.com has also recently integrated the Jump Technologies JumpCart System into ezMerchant. JumpCart System is a print-to-Web solution that creates a physical link between the point-of-interest and point-of-sale. The integrated solution aims to increase customer adoption of online ordering by creating the first e-commerce system that links a printed catalog to a shopping basket.

TJGroup CRM Suite
TJ Group Plc
972-980-8032
http://www.us.tjgroup.com

Building a highly configurable and customizable CRM suite that maintains a consistent user interface that's both powerful and easy to use is a huge challenge. The TJGroup CRM Suite does this well in both the Notes and browser client. CRM Suite is highly modular and contains some powerful add-on capabilities that let you start relatively small and grow the application to address the CRM issues most important to you.

For example, the Campaign and Response System (CARS) lets you develop, deploy, and manage a completely automated marketing campaign using opt-in e-mail messages and the ability to track Web access by prospect. This helps you focus on the most promising customer leads. The savings this module offers in terms of reduction in effort on dead-end prospects could justify the cost of entire system. The CRM Suite has many other modules that can help improve interaction between you, your customers, and your prospective customers.

Maximizer Enterprise for Notes
Cognicase Inc.
877-367-0820
http://www.cognicase.com

Cognicase Maximizer Enterprise for Notes is a modular customer relationship management tool that encompasses contact management, sales force automation, and customer services capabilities. The product offers applications that automate the process of qualifying prospects, tracking leads, building detailed customer profiles, and servicing customers.The powerful portal interface provides effective deployment to a variety of users, letting them add value with ease.

Because Maximizer is Domino-based, users can access it via the Notes client or via the Web. Customers in need of technical support can go to the site, log in, and browse through a knowledge base, looking for answers to their questions.

Integration with the native Notes Calendar and Scheduling system is clean, and doesn't require changes to the released mail template. Maximizer offers this same level of innovative and seamless integration with other components, such as Crystal Reports, the Bowtie Correspondence system, and Domino Off-line Services (DOLS). Cognicase also assures data integrity across multiple databases, and you can customize your applications according to your business needs, without losing the upgrade path of the main product.

iExtensions for Notes
iEnterprises Inc.
973-701-1600
http://www.ienterprises.com

With iExtensions for Notes, iEnterprise has created a suite of applications that are highly integrated, but still modular. Using configuration tools, you can customize the data and behavior of the system to the specific needs of any organization without compromising the upgrade path of the product. iExtensions for Notes uses the Domino Directory as the basis for its design, so the resulting CRM application is fully integrated with e-mail and all other Notes and Domino functionality. This includes an innovative contact overview feature for inbound e-mail that can alert the recipient of issues and activities associated with the contact as he receives the message. This integration with the Domino Directory makes iExtensions for Notes contact-centric, which lets you deploy it in an organization that does business with consumers (B2C), with other businesses (B2B), or both.

ecKnowledge
Casahl Technology Inc.
925-328-2828
http://www.casahl.com

The Domino data integration landscape has been fairly stagnant for quite some time, with three major players: Lotus Enterprise Integrator, Percussion Notrix, and Casahl Replic-Action. Well, the landscape has changed, and Casahl's product, ecKnowledge, takes data integration to another level. ecKnowledge is the successor to Replic-Action, which was a data integration tool that bound you to a Domino server. ecKnowledge breaks those bonds. ecKnowledge is a robust enterprise data integration tool that provides unparalleled data integration options between a wide array of data sources, including data sources outside your corporate firewall. It offers data integration within an enterprise, and supports many-to-many relationships between enterprises. ecKnowledge facilitates a range of interactions from tightly-integrated to loosely-coupled. With XML support, ecKnowledge can connect to almost any enterprise resource planning (ERP), database, middleware, directory, or messaging system.

you@web
Conet USA Inc.
720-932-6050
http://www.youatweb.com

Conet USA you@web has impressive content and knowledge management features. Content Manager, a component of you@web, is a framework within which you can build, maintain, and manage your public site or sites with minimal drain on your IT staff. And, Content Manager delivers an attractive and feature-rich Web site.

Another component, Conet Knowledge Director, lets you transform traditional data into Web-enabled content, extending collaboration and knowledge management capabilities to users both internally and externally. Knowledge Director provides user profiling, making content available to users based on their specific profile. Knowledge Director also lets users access Notes, XML, SOAP, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) data and applications, and provides wireless and PDA support.

What really caught the judge's eye is you@web's Web portal site design capability. You can assemble the basics of a site simply by creating the appropriate documents and specifying options that control standard visual and navigation options. Where the product really shines is in its ability to let you customize the site by writing HTML that contains in-line Domino @Formulas, creating something like an @Formula equivalent of JavaServer Pages.

Teamstudio for Notes
Teamstudio Inc.
978-232-0145
http://www.teamstudio.com

A long-time must-have for Domino developers, Teamstudio for Notes includes a new tool, Snapper, that addresses the lack of undo capability in Domino Designer. It takes periodic snapshots of your database design, letting you roll back to a point in time to save yourself from an accidental or ill-advised code change.

Other portions of the suite also sport impressive new features. CIAO! includes new action buttons that launch the log database from within the CIAO! Configuration database. Configurator now includes wild card search capabilities using the Find field. Delta offers a new Delta Object view for viewing sub-categories to categorize components. New functionality in Librarian includes multiple target support and snippet library switching. Analyzer now offers new auditing features.

Atomica for Lotus Discovery Server
Atomica Corporation
650-425-1000
http://www.atomica.com

Atomica for Lotus Discovery Server is a "portal on demand" that makes retrieving information related to any word in any window on your PC screen a snap. It turns every word into a hotspot that launches you into a portal interface that pulls in information and expertise related to that word from Lotus Discovery Server (LDS) and other sources.
LDS searches Web and intranet sites, discussion forums, file systems, e-mail messages, and Lotus Domino applications to find the information you need. LDS presents responses from LDS and Atomica's Master Topic Warehouse, which is a library of dynamic reference materials such as dictionaries, glossaries, encyclopedias, company profiles, news, etc. You can also access other data sources, such as enterprise information, databases, and legacy systems.

BrainEKP
TheBrain Technologies Corporation
310-656-8484
http://www.thebrain.com

BrainEKP is best described as a knowledge relationships browser. Users see a map consisting of abstract topics, documents, projects, customers, people, places, and just about anything else that can be mined from a data source. The map goes beyond the typical tree structure, and shows you the connections in a complex web of knowledge. It lets you navigate through a space that shows linkages and affinities through the relative positioning of different items. This knowledge model provides a view of relationships as they exist in the real world, and creates a shared understanding of all your information, creating multiple access paths to key information. You have to see the interface to truly appreciate it.

BrainEKP integrates information from a variety of sources, such as Web pages, intranet applications, spreadsheets, word processing documents, e-mail, Lotus Notes, legacy data, etc., into a universal interface. It provides an integrated environment for information creation, access, and discussion to make team collaboration easier. BrainEKP is Sametime-aware and works with Domino and Knowledge Discovery Server, as well as with other data sources.

Actioneer Pro
Actioneer Inc.
617-864-1400
http://www.actioneer.com

This handy tool built for RIM Blackberry or any Palm OS device is an extension of the Actioneer desktop/Web product that allows simple and effective searches of Domino (and other integratable) data with as few keystrokes as possible. With some simple administrative setup, you construct a set of search keywords that activate a pre-formatted search against selected databases using a search parameter as the input.

For example, you might want to search a parts database to return a short description and a price. In the administrative database, you create the search "PS" for parts search that looks up the information based on a part number. The handheld user simply activates the software and enters PS 19782, and receives (via SMS, IP, or e-mail) the details for that part. The same user might enter NC TOYOTA to get a list of all of the new cars made by Toyota that were sold last week.
You can provide a picklist of keywords to the user, but most users will quickly memorize the searches they use often. Minimizing keystrokes while gaining access to databases that would never fit onto the device makes this an excellent tool.

GoAmerica Wireless and Data Solutions and Go.Web
GoAmerica Communications
888-462-4600
http://www.goamerica.net

The number of service providers of wireless access for Palm OS and Pocket PC devices continues to increase. While the offerings of each vendor are very much the same, the Silver winner is doing one thing the judge really likes. Not only is this feature useful, it's an excellent trend the judge hopes will catch on in similar services.

When you purchase wireless service from GoAmerica, instead of adding Web page reading software or a microbrowser application that converts Web data into something readable on the device, that software exists as part of the service. This means you aren't responsible for storing or maintaining the software. Web pages are dynamically converted into a readable format (the judge looked at a bunch of pages, and it works well) before they're sent to your device instead of by the software on the device. This means Web sites don't have to create a special version of their site to support your handheld browser, and you don't have to manage the browser software on the device.

Naturally, what you see is limited (such as no support for frames), but the quality is comparable to other on-the-device offerings and any improvements their software team makes are immediately available. Hopefully, this idea will expand to other services, keeping your lightweight device lightweight and adding value to the wireless vendor's offerings.

e-Gap Webmail Appliance
Whale Communications Ltd.
201-947-9177
http://www.whalecommunications.com

There's no security, even in the cyber-world, like physical security. The e-Gap Webmail Appliance from Whale Communications adds a layer of physical security between external hosts and internal systems that's far stronger than an ordinary firewall. The Webmail Appliance itself is a memory storage unit that attaches between the machines via SCSI ports at up to 100 MBps throughput. TCP/IP headers are stripped off incoming requests and only application data is delivered to internal systems.

You can consolidate authentication, encryption, and other security functions on the e-Gap Webmail Appliance. The Domino server is never exposed to the Internet, and all Domino server ID files, SSL certificates, and private keys are completely concealed from the outside world. Without a definable operating system, common protocol, or TCP/IP header information, hackers will have to invent new ways to get through e-Gap-enabled systems.

Percussion PowerFlow
Percussion Software Inc.
781-438-9900
http://www.percussionpowertools.com

With PowerFlow, Percussion, a long-time thought leader with its Notrix product, once again shows it really understands how to add powerful capabilities to Notes and Domino. PowerFlow provides an exceptional set of tools for designing and managing workflow activities for any application built in Domino. Whether you use the Notes client, browser clients, or both, PowerFlow-enabled workflow can run on your application. No changes to the application are required. You don't have to add any special agents, forms, or other elements to your design. This makes adding and managing workflow clean.

You can enhance your application with workflow rather than having to design your application around workflow. PowerFlow does this with a server add-in program that captures document events and initiates workflows based on those events. You can workflow-enable a large application replicated worldwide on one or more servers as needed. When documents replicate to server(s) running PowerFlow, the workflow processes are initiated. The PowerFlow design tool has been enhanced with a powerful wizard technology that allows rapid definition and deployment of common workflows. You can still get to the complexities using the graphic design tools, but the wizard gets you from nothing to workflow in minutes instead of days.

FlowBuilder XML Edition
Trilog Group Inc.
877-480-1808
http://www.flowbuilder.com

Trilog FlowBuilder XML Edition is a J2EE/XML development platform for building a range of enterprise applications, including business process management, workflow, content management, and more. FlowBuilder XML Edition is based on XML Server Pages, a technology that lets developers build and maintain J2EE-compliant applications that manipulate XML data independently of the database system used. A key component of FlowBuilder XML Edition is Visual XSP Studio, a rapid J2EE/XML visual development environment that uses scriptable components called XSP Beans to integrate "Domino-like" collaboration and workflow capabilities into applications. Using Visual XSP Studio, developers can quickly build powerful Web applications by using XSP beans to apply business logic directly to HTML tags.

Many Lotus developers are familiar with Trilog FlowBuilder Domino Edition. FlowBuilder XML Edition is for developers wanting to take the next step to open-standards, J2EE/WebSphere development, and a wider range of applications.

ConfigSave
Wolcott Systems Group
330-666-5900
http://www.wolcottgroup.com

If you're a Notes/Domino consultant, you probably have 10 Notes IDs for each client, 10 tabs on your workspace for each client, etc. Or, maybe you're a corporate developer, and you have eight IDs, eight tabs on your workspace, etc. that you use to simulate different user roles for your applications. In either case, your replicator tab is 20 pages long because of all the applications you have, and you're still stuck using the same Notes.ini. Managing all of this can be a pain at best, and almost impossible at worst. You wish there were a way to simplify the management of multiple configurations -- well, now there is.

ConfigSave is one of those tools that quickly becomes indispensible. It lets you save the configuration files of your Notes client install, and manage multiple configurations, effectively letting you cleanly become different users. Now, instead of creating tons of tabs, remembering which ID you're on, and making sure the right databases are checked for replication, you can simply load the configuration you need and only have the appropriate applications available. Or, if you want to test something with a clean install, it will set up a default Notes.ini and configuration, as if you had just done a clean install of Notes. Make ConfigSave a part of your development toolkit, and restore some sanity to your Notes client configuration environment.

Report Logic
Granite Software Inc.
508-883-8608
http://www.gsw.com

Notes has never offered a clean, native way to do quality reports. Granite Software answers this challenge with ReportLogic. ReportLogic is a powerful, Notes-based reporting tool that produces quality reports on complex data in native Notes format. ReportLogic is flexible in defining and generating Notes-based and/or browser-based reports -- it even provides a nice printing format! ReportLogic accomplishes all this via the Midas Rich Text LSX from Genii Software.

The most compelling reason ReportLogic is so useful is that it's ALL Notes. There are no tricky installation issues to worry about, it works completely within the Notes and Domino security model, and it lets Notes administrators and developers use their existing knowledge and expertise to get the most out of ReportLogic. So, if you've been fighting with report generation in Notes and Domino, call a truce and use ReportLogic.