IBM SOFTWARE GROUP COMPETITIVE PROJECT OFFICE

Top reasons to choose IBM Lotus Quickr (Domino Services) over Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
12/12/2007

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA The information contained in this documentation is provided for informational purposes only. While efforts were made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the information contained in this documentation, it is provided as is without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In addition, some of this information is based on IBMs current product plans and strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this documentation or any other documentation. Nothing contained in this documentation is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software. References in these materials to IBM products, programs, or services do not imply that they will be available in all countries in which IBM operates. Product release dates and/or capabilities referenced in these materials may change at any time at IBMs sole discretion based on market opportunities or other factors, and are not intended to be a commitment to future product or feature availability in any way. The Microsoft product described in this paper is Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Information about Windows SharePoint Services was compiled from IBM internal studies and Microsoft sources such as Office Online (http://office.microsoft.com/enus/sharepointserver/FX100492001033.aspx) , Microsoft Developer Network (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693437.aspx) and Microsoft Technet (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/default.aspx) Copyright IBM Corporation 2007 IBM Corporation Software Group CPO 294 Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 USA

Produced in the United States December 2007 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo, AIX, Domino, i5/OS, Lotus, Notes, Quickr,Sametime and Tivoli are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and other countries. Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries or both. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Page 2

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Table of Contents
Advantages for End-Users............................................................................................................................. 4 1. Reduce storage redundancy by managing email attachments......................................................... 4 2. Maintain one version of the truth .................................................................................................... 6 3. Tailor the collaboration channel to the preferences of the workforce ............................................ 7 4. Maintain library control of documents whilst still working in Microsoft Office ............................... 8 5. Take your work with you on the road ............................................................................................... 8 6. Browse document contents while travelling or while using a borrowed computer ...................... 10 7. Group related documents into Binders for processing ................................................................ 11 8. Quickly isolate information or a document by searching across multiple sites ............................. 12 9. Promote collaboration with external participants.......................................................................... 12 Advantages for development teams........................................................................................................... 13 1. Add new functionality to a Quickr place with client side JavaScript code ..................................... 13 2. Automate routine tasks .................................................................................................................. 13 Advantages for CIOs/IT departments ......................................................................................................... 14 1. Provide presence services without additional deployment or licensing costs ............................... 14 2. Easily migrate from Lotus Quickplace ............................................................................................. 15 3. Help minimize business downtime during data recovery ............................................................... 15 4. Replication allows companies to achieve decent performance in distributed environments ....... 16 5. Choose a platform that matches your strategy .............................................................................. 16 6. Help avoid expensive infrastructure prerequisites ......................................................................... 16 Advantages for Executives .......................................................................................................................... 17 1. Attractive acquisition costs ............................................................................................................. 17

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Top reasons to choose IBM Lotus Quickr over Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
Note: This document refers to Lotus Quickr for Domino Services .
Windows SharePoint Services is also bundled together with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 which is a licensed offering. Office SharePoint Server 2007 is beyond the scope of this paper as its feature set would encompass Quickr, WebSphere Portal, and possibly Workplace Forms.

Advantages for End-Users

1. Reduce storage redundancy by managing email attachments The IBM Lotus Quickr connector for Lotus Notes provides a way for users to manage the numerous attachments they receive via email. With most email systems, the collaboration process is typically the following: 1. A user creates a document, attaches it to an email and sends it to multiple users 2. One, or many of the recipients, will then detach the document, edit it, save it to disk, then attach the file to an email and reply to the sender and copy all the other addressees 3. The process is repeated until all revisions are merged, the multiple file copies are synced up, and the team is satisfied with the final document This process often results in numerous un-synchronized copies of the document appended with v1, v2, v3, etc. Not only does it make it difficult to locate the latest version, but these copies take up space both on the local workstations as well as in the mail server store. Furthermore, a new team member that did not participate in the ongoing discussion will have no visibility to the history of the collaboration, unless he/she gets forwarded the different email threads, a time consuming and error-prone process. With the new approach afforded by the Lotus Quickr Connectors, collaboration no longer needs to take place exclusively in email. The documents are maintained in a central location where all revisions and comments are being saved. Emails being sent around contain only a link to the document, not the actual attachment. The user experience however is not impacted: clicking on the link will open the document... naturally. And the file being opened is the latest version, not an outdated copy. Furthermore, if a user tries to send an email with a document attachment, he/she will be reminded to save it to a document library instead. The user can override the prompt and continue sending it as a Page 4

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA regular email attachment if they wish, but the pop-up prompt (Figure 1) makes it convenient for the user to save to a common repository.

Figure 1 - Quickr Connector attachment prompt

By taking the tedium out of the process, it encourages users to make use of a document repository. The Quickr connector replaces the document attachment with a link to the document in the library instead. This dramatically reduces the size of an email providing a number of benefits: 1. Reduction in network bandwidth usage 2. Reduction in disk usage on the local workstation 3. Reduction in disk usage on the mail server 4. Reduce the need to constantly prune or archive a mail file that has gone over its quota Page 5

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA 5. Reduce version anxiety: the latest version is available in one click 6. New team members get up to speed more quickly as they are ensured access to the latest document, with all its history and context Note: In addition to working with Lotus Notes 6.5 and 7.0 today, the Quickr connectors are also currently planned to support Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes 8.0.1 with the next release of Quickr (8.1) currently targeted for 1H 2008. Product plans are subject to change. SharePoint allows users to insert attachments from files stored in SharePoint repository, but In order to send a link to a document, the user is forced to open a new browser session and manually navigate to the SharePoint document library and then upload the document. Subsequently, the user needs to manually copy the URL to the document, create a new email in Outlook and paste the URL in the email body (Figure 2). Neither does Windows SharePoint Services automatically prompt the user to save attachments.

Figure 2 - Creating a document link in a Microsoft environment

2. Maintain one version of the truth A study by the Chief Knowledge Architect of KPMG found that on average a document is stored in 7 different places. Which brings us to another key benefit of storing attachments in the Quickr document library; namely, you are able to quickly locate the latest, greatest version the one version of the truth. No longer do you have the scenario where everyone shows up to a meeting with printouts from different versions of document. Everyone can refer to Page 6 knowing it will be the same content throughout the team. In todays post-Enron environment, being able to locate key documents is not just a nice-to-have, it is a regulatory requirement. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires companies to keep an auditable trail of documents used in financial reporting. Some of these documents like off-ledger calculation spreadsheets need to be available in their latest incarnation to all members of the finance and audit teams. By facilitating access to one central repository from multiple clients not just Microsoft Office tools - the Quickr connectors help make it easier to follow business controls practices. Page 6

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA The manual processes involved in the use of Windows SharePoint Services encourage users to keep multiple copies of a document all over their workstation and the network. The work required to locate and manage these multiple copies may contribute to a loss in productivity. 3. Tailor the collaboration channel to the preferences of the workforce A 2005 report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project called "Teens and Technology1" found that teenagers use new technology, like instant messaging, or text messaging, for interacting with friends and use e-mail to communicate with "old people." This sentiment also reflects the mentality of Generation Y, many of whom are entering the workforce now. Companies need to provide these new employees with tools that they are familiar with in order to make this new generation as productive as possible. IBM recognizes this, which is why the Quickr connectors can also integrate natively into Lotus Sametime as a new channel by which to collaborate on documents. A Sametime plug-in allows users to seamlessly browse documents from the Quickr document libraries and add the document to a chat session. The participants can check out the document directly from the Quickr repository, edit it, and then check it back in, all within the context of an instant message or VoIP chat session. (Figure 3)

Figure 3 - Collaborating on a document inside a chat session

Lenhart, Amanda, and Madden, Mary. Teens and Technology. Pew Internet and American Life Project. 27 July 2005. <http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/162/report_display.asp>

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA Microsoft does not provide any comparable capabilities. Users collaborate by congregating around a Windows SharePoint Services web page and editing the documents in the document library without taking advantage of a real-time collaboration scenario. 4. Maintain library control of documents whilst still working in Microsoft Office Both Quickr as well as Windows SharePoint Services allow you to open, save, check-in and out documents from within Microsoft Office. However Quickr provides a number of conveniences that are not found with Windows SharePoint Services. For example, Quickr provides you the option of accessing its features either through a menu entry or a set of toolbar icons (Figure 4). The Quickr connectors also make intelligent guesses when it comes to working with documents. For example when you choose to edit a document it automatically opens and checks out the document for you. Similarly when you click on the check-in command Quickr automatically checks in as well as prompts you to save the document. These usability enhancements help people focus on getting the job done instead of learning how to use a tool.

Figure 4 - Accessing Quickr via menu or toolbar icons within Microsoft Excel

5. Take your work with you on the road When the time comes for you to travel, you can take the entire Quickr place with you. Clicking on the Work Offline link causes the Sync Manager to download the place file to your local workstation. You can specify a maximum size as well as other parameters such as Replicate only documents modified in the last x days to manage the size of the resulting file. This local copy is encrypted so that a loss of equipment does not result in a security breach. While you are travelling, you work with the place in exactly the same manner as you do with the online version. (Figure 5) The only difference is the hostname portion of the URL points to localhost instead of the server.

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Figure 5 - Quickr offline replication

Once you return from your travels and reconnect to the corporate network the Sync Manager automatically synchronizes any changes to the server copy. The entire experience is seamless. Windows SharePoint Services provides offline capabilities, however they require significant manual intervention. This starts with manually initiating offline sync for each and every list of the site you wish to take offline. Once you have done so, you will realize that the lists that comprise a teamsite are not grouped together. Their relationship has been broken and all you see is a collection of all the lists you have subscribed to, which may have come from multiple different teamsites. To make matters worse, only data is synchronized offline. This means that any logic or graphical representation for the lists is not shown. A prime example is the project management list Web Part in SharePoint (Figure 6).

Figure 6 - Project Management web part in SharePoint

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA When this project management data is synchronized for offline access into Outlook 2007, it looks like this (Figure 7)

Figure 7 - Offline Project Management view of the SharePoint web part

As a result, users have to learn a new paradigm for working with the information in online and offline modes. 6. Browse document contents while travelling or while using a borrowed computer Users who are browsing a Quickr document library can view the contents of a file without launching a thick client application. For example, if the file is a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, Quickr will convert the presentation being uploaded to an HTML readable format so that the browser is able to render the content page by page. This allows users to who travelling or who may be accessing the place via a shared workstation to view the data even though that machine does not have Microsoft Office installed. (Figure 8)

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Figure 8 - A PowerPoint document rendered by the Quickr viewer

Windows SharePoint Services lack of built-in document viewers means that if you are accessing the teamsite from a public terminal or a workstation without an office suite, you will not be able to view the contents of documents in the library. 7. Group related documents into Binders for processing An entry in Quickrs document library can comprise of more than 1 document. Several related documents can be grouped together into a virtual binder. For example, a proposal may consist of a cover letter, a spreadsheet detailing the pricing scheme, and a PowerPoint presentation with a summary of the deliverables. All these files can be uploaded into a single entry in Quickrs document library. The documents are treated as a single entity in terms of locking as well as versioning. This allows users to replicate their actual work processes. (Figure 9)

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Figure 9 - A proposal binder with multiple documents

Windows SharePoint Services associates a single document with each entry in the document library. There is no mechanism to associate related documents into a single virtual entity forcing users to make comments to explain how pieces of content relate to each others. 8. Quickly isolate information or a document by searching across multiple sites Quickr allows users to search across all places that they have access to. Windows SharePoint Services limits the search scope to a single teamsite at a time. 9. Promote collaboration with external participants Todays business environment is characterized by a web of relationships between the enterprise and its partners, suppliers, vendors, and customers. No longer do organizations collaborate internally only; it is often necessary to enable collaboration with partners, suppliers and customers to conduct business. With Quickr, all participants - whether internal or external - can easily collaborate as part of a team. Quickr makes it easy to add external parties to a place. All that is required is their email address. (Figure 10) There is no need to add these individuals to a directory. IT security concerns often prevent the addition of non-employees to a corporate directory so this feature is invaluable. Inviting external collaborators also does not require the intervention of corporate IT personnel. Quickr place owners can easily perform the task themselves.

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Figure 10 - Add external user by email address

In order to access a Windows SharePoint Services server a user must have an account either in Active Directory or the local system account. This may make it difficult to allow external users access to a SharePoint teamsite. In order to get around this, companies usually create a separate extranet SharePoint server which has its own standalone user directory (typically using Active Directory Application Mode). Customers and business partners accounts are created in this directory. If an internal employee wishes to access the data, an account is created for him or her. This results in duplicate accounts and increases the administrative burden on IT to manage redundant credentials.

Advantages for development teams

1. Add new functionality to a Quickr place with client side JavaScript code Lotus Quickr allows developers to define JavaScript functions that are called before and after a page is processed. These JavaScript functions can perform all manner of tasks such as enhancing the user interface, or performing some form of form validation. Windows SharePoint Services does not allow any client side script to run2. Microsoft claims it is due to security risks. 2. Automate routine tasks Quickr allows developers to add code that processes documents or data within a place using an artifact known as a Placebot. Placebots can be triggered by events or run on a scheduled basis. For example, a Placebot may send an email notifying all members when a new document is added. Scheduled Placebots can run at off peak hours to archive or process documents that were uploaded during the day. (Figure 11)

Inline script is not executed in a default page, such as for working with lists or managing a site, although you can implement code-behind pages in which script will run. (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms980864.aspx)

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA

Figure 11 - Configuring a Placebot to run on a schedule

Placebots can even be used for compliance purposes; automatically filing documents or forms into the appropriate folders based on keywords or field definitions. The possibilities are limited only the imagination of the developer. Creating the Placebots is a simple exercise, especially those developers with Lotus Domino development expertise. Placebots utilize the same object model as well as the same development languages LotusScript, and Java as traditional Lotus Domino applications. Deploying a Placebot is as simple as uploading the script code into the target place. Windows SharePoint Services does not allow scheduled processes, but it allows one to add custom event handler code that is triggered when a new item is added, deleted, or updated. However, creating this event sink is fairly complex and requires learning a new object model as well as programming in C#. The Event Sink itself has a number of limitations such as being asynchronous, stateless, and unable to trigger other events. In addition, it runs in the Internet Information Server application pool process so your code must implement the appropriate impersonation of the currently logged-in account so that the proper security access controls are maintained. Deploying the event sink requires first that the code itself be added to the Global Assembly Cache. Then the Schema.xml file for the list must be edited to point to the Event Sinks assembly and class definitions.

Advantages for CIOs/IT departments

1. Provide presence services without additional deployment or licensing costs Although both Lotus Quickr and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services can support presence awareness such as live names, Quickr does so without requiring additional software on the client. Page 14

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA Enabling presence awareness in Quickr for a Lotus Sametime server is simply a matter of turning on a switch in the preferences page. When a user navigates to a page, Java applets automatically load and display presence information in name fields. For simple presence and chat and natively integrating with Web conferences, there is no pre-requisite for the Sametime Connect client to be installed on each machine. In order to provide the same level of functionality in Windows SharePoint Services the full Microsoft Office Communicator thick client must be installed on the users desktop. When the user navigates to a SharePoint page, an ActiveX control on the page acts as a shim and calls the underlying code in Office Communicator to perform the connection to Office Communications Server. The ActiveX control is merely a proxy or conduit to harness the code in Office Communicator. Corporate IT must deploy and manage the Office Communicator software on all participating desktops. Further, acquiring an Office Communications Server CAL (either Standard, or Enterprise, or both) does not entitle one to the Office Communicator license. This must be either purchased separately or come as part of an enhanced bundle such as Office Professional Plus or Enterprise edition. This may result in greater costs: both in terms of systems management as well as licensing fees. It also makes it difficult for extranet users to participate unless they already own the requisite software. 2. Easily migrate from Lotus Quickplace Upgrading to Quickr from Quickplace is a very straightforward operation. The entire process executes inplace without requiring additional hardware. The application itself can be upgraded by running the Quickr installer which installs the necessary files onto the embedded Lotus Domino server. Data files are left intact and can be migrated by issuing a few commands in the console to register the new Quickr places. All the existing data is preserved. This allows companies to get up and running quickly without losing precious hours or days while the new system is brought online. Users who are in the midst of product design, campaign planning, or issue resolution will be thankful that they will be able to access their collaborative team spaces with minimal interruption. It is possible to upgrade from Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 to WSS 3.0 in-place using the migration tools. However, users who have earlier versions such as SharePoint Team Services will have to undergo a lengthy process if they which to move to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. First the team sites need to be backed up, then SharePoint Team Services needs to be uninstalled, only then is Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 installed, and finally the data is restored. A major reason for this process is the fact that Microsoft radically altered the underlying data storage mechanism, moving from the Web Store to SQL Server. 3. Help minimize business downtime during data recovery Since each Quickr place is a Lotus Domino NSF file, backup and restoration is a very simple undertaking. Any backup software will be able to handle the process. Should a particular place become corrupt or require restoration in to retrieve some data, the file can be copied out from the backup repository without taking down the entire system.

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IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA Windows SharePoint Services stores all the site content data in a single SQL Server database. In order to restore the team site, the entire database needs to be restored. In the meantime the entire system will have to be taken offline while the restore operation is running. Users of other team sites will also lose their data as the system is rolled back to an earlier state. 4. Replication allows companies to achieve decent performance in distributed environments Many companies have operations in multiple cities as well as countries around the globe. Teams are often assembled with employees from these far flung locations. These virtual teams use tools such as Quickr to collaborate and share information. However, some of these locales may be saddled with slow network links. In many developing countries the cost of broadband connections may be prohibitive. In these situations, instead of accessing a central Quickr server, the place may be replicated to on-site servers. This allows users at that location to interact with a local server ensuring good performance. During off-peak hours, the server can then replicate any updates to the main server located somewhere else. Having this replication capability can potentially save thousands in network connectivity charges. It also can help boost user productivity by eliminating the annoying wait of accessing a server over a narrowband link. Instead of watching an hourglass, your sales reps could be making more customer calls. At a time where more and more users are accessing content wirelessly, and where the increase in the size of the traffic and content outpaces enhancements in global network capacity, this issue becomes more and more relevant. Windows SharePoint Services does not have a replication capability. All Windows SharePoint Services boxes access an individual or clustered SQL Server repository. Microsofts solution is to deploy a centralized SharePoint Services farm and equip all satellite offices with high speed network links so that performance is tolerable. This is an ideal approach - however it may not be a feasible option especially for small to medium businesses with budget constraints. 5. Choose a platform that matches your strategy Quickr supports a variety of platforms on the server (including Windows, Solaris, AIX, and i5/OS). This allows you to leverage the existing infrastructure and expertise of your IT staff. Quickr also works with industry standard LDAP directory servers (including Tivoli Directory Server, Sun ONE Directory Server, Lotus Domino, and Microsoft Active Directory) that may already be deployed in the company. Since the user profiles are already populated in these directories no additional work needs to be performed neither to setup the server nor populate it with data. This flexibility also ensures that you are not tied to a specific infrastructure. SharePoint Services only runs on Windows Server 2003, and requires Active Directory for the LDAP. 6. Help avoid expensive infrastructure prerequisites Lotus Quickr is a complete collaboration package no additional infrastructure beyond the server OS is required for complete operations. Conversely, Windows SharePoint Services is tightly bound to the Microsoft ecosystem, and has a number of prerequisites in order to function completely. For example: Page 16

IBM Software Group Competitive Project Office This document can be shared under NDA Active Directory is required for user authentication and general directory SQL Server is required to store data and configuration. Although SQL Server Express is included with Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft does not recommend using it in production deployments. SQL Server Express also has performance and size limitations that prevent it from scaling beyond small groups of users Microsoft Office is required to view the contents of document libraries Offline access requires licenses to Outlook 2007 or Groove 2007

Advantages for Executives

1. Attractive acquisition costs Even though Windows SharePoint Services is touted as a free offering, a typical deployment sometimes ends up being more expensive than Quickr. How is that possible? This is due to a number of reasons: The primary cost component is the data repository. Although Windows SharePoint Services ships with SQL Server Express, this database is not recommended for production use because of performance and capacity limitations, for example the maximum database size is capped at 4GB. Hence, a full license to SQL Server 2005 must be procured. SQL Server is available in both per user and per processor licensing models. Most companies elect to purchase a per-processor license since the per-user model becomes more expensive after just 38 users (SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, retail pricing). In order to use Windows SharePoint Services, each user must have a Windows Server 2003 Client Access License (CAL). These CALs may already be included in an Enterprise Agreement Core CAL. The Microsoft Office suite may be required (while Quickr supports Office, there are plans to also support Lotus Symphony, an alternative productivity suite built on Open Office, which use can help even further reduce operating costs)

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