IT FACTORY announced the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire Netherlands-based Documentaal, a provider of Microsoft-to-Lotus integration technology. This acquisition addresses the demand among corporate messaging customers to bridge the gap between their Microsoft and Lotus Notes environments.

The Microsoft antitrust trial ended with U.S. District Judge’s order to break up the company into two parts. One part would control Windows, and the other would control the applications that run on Windows, including BackOffice, Office, and Microsoft development tools. How will the Microsoft breakup affect Lotus, Domino, and Domino and Notes developers and users? In this article, Jim Hoopes answers this important question.

Al Zollar has been picked to replace Jeff Papows as CEO of Lotus Development Corp. Here’s an article profiling the man and discussing the launch of IBM Mindspan Solutions, a new business unit that will use Lotus’ Notes and Domino software to help businesses train employees more efficiently.

OnX Inc., an e-business solutions provider, has purchased the Quebec-based Momentum Business Systems, Inc., a marketer of Lotus Domino applications. Momentum Business Systems’ software division markets Lotus Domino applications, such as the Boomerang travel expense management application. OnX says it has big plans for the Boomerang software division.

AvantGo announced that it is now shipping software to synchronize Lotus Notes custom applications and personal information management (PIM) applications on mobile devices with the Palm OS platform. By acquiring Globalware Computing, AvantGo has broadened its AvantGo Enterprise solutions to provide corporate customers with the ability to wirelessly extend Web-based and Lotus Notes-based applications to their employees and customers using mobile devices and Internet-enabled phones.

Lotus and IBM unveiled two resources for software developers focused on collaborative technologies. The new Collaboration Zone on IBM developerWorks offers objective content on the latest technologies for developers building open, standards-based and cross- platform collaborative solutions. Lotus Developer Network (LDN), a new Lotus resource site, offers developers information for building collaborative e-business applications and a gateway to the Lotus developer community.

Microsoft discussed enhancements to its Digital Dashboard concept at its annual TechEd event in Orlando, Fla. According to Stan Sorensen, group product manager of server applications at Microsoft, "We created Web Parts, a set of technologies, components that make up the digital dashboard and that talk to any number of back-end services–Exchange, the file system, [Lotus] Domino, Oracle, MySAP database–and plug those into my Digital Dashboard to give me a highly customized interface."

The SpeedWork Company introduced SpeedWork 2.5, a new type of productivity application that combines project management software with group collaboration. SpeedWork runs on Lotus Notes and Domino using a Notes or browser client.

Mobile technology developers have released SyncML specifications and development code. Supporters of the protocol say this could help make SyncML an industry standard. If it becomes a standard, they claim it should allow people to use mobile devices to access their email and calendars stored on company servers without worrying whether their cellular phone or handheld computer speaks the same language as their network.

Lotus had this item on its Web site about Domino vs. Exchange. Business Partner and DominoPower Contributing Editor Ron Herardian was asked which product he recommends. He says that "if you need only email capabilities, Exchange might suit your needs just fine, but if you’re planning to do any application development, you’d be better off with Domino."