"The workforce is becoming more global and dynamic," said Michael Rhodin, IBM Lotus Software general manager. "Lotus Notes and Domino bring companies and individual workers greater mobility, security, Web 2.0 capabilities and overall higher performance."

IBM Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5 includes enhancements to the Lotus Domino Web application environment. New features planned for IBM Lotus Domino Designer 8.5 will let applications use Web 2.0 techniques such as AJAX, style sheets, and RSS or ATOM feeds.

IBM Lotus Protector for Mail Security is an anti-virus and anti-spam solution based on the IBM Proventia Network Mail Security System. Lotus Protector for Mail Security is designed to block spam at the appliance before it reaches the Lotus Notes server or affects Lotus Notes users. Lotus Protector for Mail Security uses IBM Internet Security Systems' threat mitigation and information security technologies and the IBM ISS X-Force research and development team.

Lotus Symphony Beta 4 (ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony) is the next version of the free desktop productivity tools. It features an open programming model that can transform a document into a portal to the Web 2.0 world. Lotus Symphony Beta 4 lets independent software vendors (ISVs) wire capabilities into documents that access and manage business applications such as issuing a shipping order or an invoice directly from a spreadsheet. Information can also flow into documents. For example, you can pull inventory data into Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets for easy, flexible analysis and extracted for reporting or collaboration.

The Symphony community Web site will have a set of plug-ins including IBM Lotus Sametime Unyte Meeting, Lotus Sametime Unyte Share, and IBM WebSphere Translation Server which can provide on-the-fly translation of Lotus Symphony-generated content, facilitating working across multiple languages.

IBM Applications on Demand for Lotus Notes gives Lotus Notes/Domino customers a hosted and managed environment for mail and collaborative applications, including Lotus Sametime instant messaging integrated in Notes 8 and the IBM Lotus Quickr connector software integrated into the Lotus Notes 8.0.1 product. In addition, Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Connections, and Lotus Quickr are available via IBM's Applications on Demand service.

IBM plans to offer an integrated Lotus Open Collaboration Client Solution with support for Ubuntu, a Linux operating system from Canonical Ltd. In addition, IBM announced an agreement with Red Hat to combine Red Hat Linux Advanced Platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, IBM Lotus Notes client with Lotus Symphony, and the IBM Lotus Domino server.