VAR's & Native Domino Market -- MIDRANGE-L



Thought you'd like to hear how VAR's are looking at the AS/400 & Domino .
Hmm,  Replacing 'Rows and Rows of NT's eh??

<<            "Most of our [AS/400] customers are replacing multiple
[Windows] NT
                 boxes," said Financial Software's Allen. "We're taking 12
[Windows] NT
                 servers out and putting [the client] on one AS/400."
                 Some customers prefer the stability of the AS/400 vs. a
LAN-based solution,
                 said Image Integration's Kelley."   >>

John Carr

(I did a search on 'AS/400'  on www.cmpnet.com)
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        From 'Computer Reseller News'

        June 08, 1998, TechWeb News

                 Under Construction -- VARs Build New Markets For Domino
                 By Lee Copeland

                 Linking AS/400s to business applications is fast becoming
a lucrative market
                 for VARs.

                 Lotus Development Corp. and parent company IBM Corp. last
February
                 began shipping Domino for the AS/400. At the same time,
Armonk,
                 N.Y.-based IBM began offering its upgrade to the OS/400
operating system. 

                 But resellers are seeking and developing additional
applications. VARs want
                 to give their customers the Web accessibility inherent in
Domino and Notes,
                 said industry executives.

                 For example, Financial Software Inc. is creating a
middleware API,
                 code-named Blue, to attach Notes applications and workflow
processes to
                 back-end enterprise resource planning, or ERP, systems,
said Burke Allen,
                 director of professional services at Financial Software,
Norcross, Ga. 

                 "The middleware piece is important to utilize data from
ERP systems and
                 incorporate workflow [capabilities]," Allen said. 

                 Customers often want to create invoices in Notes, which
are linked to events
                 and information occurring in their ERP data stores, he
added.

                 "It's where we're going with our Notes and AS/400
business," said Allen.

                 In fact, Notes and AS/400 VARs said they expect business
to grow through
                 the continued expansion of their ERP system integration
work.

                 "It's a huge market for us from the standpoint of very few
competitors, and it
                 also provides Web-based technology on a platform that
traditionally didn't
                 have that technology before," said Don Darrah, vice
president of emerging
                 markets at SkillSet Software Inc., a Pleasanton,
Calif.-based VAR and
                 independent software developer.

                 SkillSet writes a suite of Domino-based human-resource
applications it has
                 ported to the AS/400. Companies are looking for intranet
applications, like
                 those developed by Skillset, to justify the move to the
upgraded operating
                 system and platform, said Darrah.

                 "Without applications that are core to your business-which
HR and
                 recruitment are-a lot of people are hesitant to make a
move. So when you
                 provide them with software solutions that are Web-enabled
from the start, it
                 gives them a high-end impetus to make the change," he
said.

                 But success should not rest only on VARs' shoulders,
executives said. Like
                 their resellers, IBM and Lotus must continue Web
application development on
                 the AS/400 to prevent customers from moving to Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows
                 NT for specialized applications, said Ron Kelley, vice
president of marketing
                 for Image Integration Systems Inc., a Toledo, Ohio-based
VAR.

                 "The next wave of [Windows] NT transaction applications
will cut into their
                 hardware and software sales. IBM doesn't want to lose that
business to
                 [Windows] NT," Kelley said.

                 To run Notes/Domino natively on the AS/400 RISC-based
machines, VARs
                 must load OS/400 4.2 onto the hardware. Approximately
500,000 systems
                 have been sold worldwide since IBM introduced the AS/400
as an
                 application server for small and midsize business,
according to the vendor.

                 It is unclear how many of the systems run the
operating-system upgrade,
                 however, and Lotus will not reveal the number of
Notes/Domino licenses it
                 has sold for the AS/400. 

                 VARs and integrators contend that the revenue opportunity
is large, and many
                 expect it to become even bigger.

                 "Most of our [AS/400] customers are replacing multiple
[Windows] NT
                 boxes," said Financial Software's Allen. "We're taking 12
[Windows] NT
                 servers out and putting [the client] on one AS/400."

                 Some customers prefer the stability of the AS/400 vs. a
LAN-based solution,
                 said Image Integration's Kelley.

                 "Most AS/400 customers don't want to introduce another
platform in their
                 shops. They're focused on applications running natively on
that box because
                 they've already made an investment in skills and people
and applications,"
                 Kelley said.

                 In fact, Allen estimated that 95 percent of his company's
new business comes
                 from native Domino or AS/400 support. 

                 Copyright � 1998 CMP Media Inc
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