Global System Services Corporation (GSS) - The leading provider of email and messaging, directory services, and groupware consulting and professional services

It's going to take a lot more than free software for Lotus to retain its huge cc:Mail installed base.

Though the IBM unit is expected to offer free Notes clients to its 14 million cc:Mail users to encourage migration, many shops are calling for lower maintenance costs, better coexistence tools and more training.

Need further proof that these customers are in the catbird seat? The looming presence of Microsoft and other cutthroat competitors could result in even sweeter deals than Lotus' (see chart on page 63). It promises to be a bloodbath that only benefits IT managers.

Typical among the customers who will exploit the situation is Sony Corp. "I'm expecting benefits beyond free clients," said Vincent Farinaro, manager of LAN/Office technology at Sony. "I expect some offers from Microsoft, too. It could get bloody."

Microsoft is already devising its plan to snatch as many cc:Mail users as possible. The company has dedicated a group on its Exchange team to devise a plan to win those cc:Mail converts. An initial offer of a 2-for-1 client swap was tabled after Microsoft learned Lotus would be giving away clients, according to a source at Microsoft.

The number of organizations with aging cc:Mail networks that will subscribe to the company's Domino theory by moving to the Domino/Notes platform may be far lower than Lotus expects, observers said last week. Case in point: Dale Johnson, of the Boston cc:Mail users group, predicted 70 percent of the 1,500 cc:Mail shops he consults with will move off the Lotus platform.

"It might be too late for Lotus to pull a rabbit out of its hat this time," said Johnson, who also is president of Johnson Consulting. "It will take them at least a year to have tools and strategies down pat and my clients need to have made their decisions by then."

Even with Lotus' enticements, it's going to be a hard sell, said Ron Herardian, chief executive officer of Global System Services, a systems integrator. In a survey of 300 customers, GSS is finding "most" will move off cc:Mail in the next two to three years. More ominously, "based on the initial feedback, they're not going to Domino," he said. More likely choices are Microsoft Exchange or Netscape Communicator because both platforms offer more lightweight, efficient clients, he added.

Despite this potential setback for Lotus, Domino/Notes is on a roll with exponential growth. The company last month disclosed it now has 20.5 million clients, more than 2 million more than it had anticipated by the end of 1997. Lotus sold 4 million licenses last quarter alone.

One fly in the ointment, however, has been a dissatisfied base of cc:Mail users who have been looking for a smooth, cost-effective migration path and frustrated by Lotus' failure to deliver it.

News of the free Notes client was reported late last month when Lotus sources told InternetWeek the company will give free Notes 5.0 clients to cc:Mail customers on maintenance contracts. Lotus insiders last week said the Notes giveaway will begin with a client plug-in called R6D. Both products are key to easing retraining and migration costs for
cc:Mail customers.

"Free is great, but free isn't free if you have $200,000 hidden in a maintenance contract," said Marc Malacoff, manager of telecommunications and networking for the M.W. Kellogg Company in Houston. "I need some facts on costs before I go to management and try to sell them on moving. Lotus has made the technical case but we need the business case for moving."

The average maintenance fees charged by Lotus-figures confirmed by the company- are $9 per cc:Mail user compared to $18 per seat for Domino/Notes shops. Sources said Lotus will likely offer discounted maintenance contracts to cc:Mail customers for the first two years after they migrate to Domino/Notes.

That's what cc:Mail customers said they need to keep them away from the clutches of Microsoft's Exchange, Novell's GroupWise or Netscape/iPlanet servers. At last month's Lotusphere conference, cc:Mail administrators said they are tired of dealing with Notes migration and coexistence tools that cause directory problems and administrative headaches.

"The core migration problems have never gone away and, in fact, are just starting to get better," said GSS' Herardian.

The message is starting to sink in. Late last month, the company released the DB8 Migration Tool, which includes enhanced Automatic Directory Exchange features. This month it also will release cc:Mail MTA 2.0, a coexistence tool that has suffered from major bugs in previous releases.

But the bulk of the migration strategy still needs to be articulated. Steve Layne, vice pres-ident and general manager of Lotus messaging, said last week, "We are pretty clear on what we want to do and are finalizing those plans, but we have no details to announce."

Layne added that the "aggressive and attractive" plan for a move to Domino/Notes would go beyond cc:Mail users and include legacy shops served by systems like Microsoft Mail, IBM Office Vision and Digital Equipment All-in- One.

IT managers know moving platforms won't just require new software, it will require costly new hard-ware and network infrastructure.

"When you load Domino, it's a whole different ball game," said Tim Sloane, director of research for Internet infrastructure at the Aberdeen Group. "The question for customers is, will that effort be easier going to Domino or Exchange? The answer will be different for everybody."

"It would be unfair to force us off a platform and then have us pay large amounts of money to make the move," said Greg Chesser, a network analyst at Ameripol Synpol Corp. "I think they're playing the odds that cc:Mail customers are loyal. It will be interesting to see how many stay."

Copyright (c) 1998 CMP Media Inc.
Internet Week -- 02-09-98, p. PG1