IBM Upgrades LotusLive Features, Adds Social Networking Capabilities

IBM Corp. said that it has added enterprise-level email and social networking capabilities to its LotusLive cloud collaboration services, integrated product features with two third-party providers and set up new pricing options.

The vendor said that its aim with the LotusLive additions is to boost cloud collaboration services among large businesses.

“Businesses are looking to reduce costs, do more with less, and find ways to work more closely with their customers and partners,” said Sean Poulley, IBM vice president, cloud collaboration.

LotusLive is a set of social networking and online business collaboration solutions delivered as a service. IBM’s new LotusLive Notes offers email, shared calendar, instant messaging and contacts delivered as a service for $5 per user per month, the company said.

The vendor also has folded a social networking feature into LotusLive called Communities that allows users to tag information, share files and bookmarks, track projects and host discussion forums securely.

The revamped LotusLive collaboration suite, including the new features, is priced at $10 per user per month, IBM said.

Third-party integrations to LotusLive

IBM said that it has collaborated with Tungle Corp., a Montreal, Canada provider of online scheduling and calendar services, to enable LotusLive users to import their contacts into the Tungle.me service as a free subscription.

The companies said that the integrated services is intended to help business users handle crossover between social and business networks.

In addition, IBM said that Bricsys Inc., a Merrimack, NH provider of cloud-based project management software, is enabling LotusLive users to import their documents into Bricsys’ Vondle Live service.

IBM previously has teamed with third-party providers such as Silanis Technology, a Montreal, Canada-based provider of electronic signature solutions to integrate with LotusLive data, and Skype Inc., for Voice Over IP (VoIP) services.