Avantsoft Corp. introduced CIOView for Lotus Notes & Domino, its return on investment (ROI) analysis tool for calculating the costs and financial benefits of deploying Lotus Notes and Domino. CIOView produces a comprehensive ROI analysis for companies considering purchasing and deploying Lotus Notes & Domino. Lotus Development Corp. is distributing CIOView for Lotus Notes & Domino as a sales and marketing tool to each of its Business Partners attending Lotusphere this week. CIOView Dramatically Reduces Notes Sales Cycles.

US WEST, in collaboration with Lotus Development Corp. and the University of Wisconsin educational systems, will begin to host nine Web-based university courses at three University of Wisconsin campuses. Using U S WEST networking and distance learning products and services, combined with Lotus’ "LearningSpace" solution, the Wisconsin state universities in Oshkosh, Superior and Eau Claire can now develop and deliver full college courses as well as support traditional classroom teaching material over the Web.

Here’s a list of all of the winners and finalists at last night’s Beacon Awards ceremony.

TenFour announces the availability of TFS Secure Messaging – Server for Lotus Notes, a comprehensive solution for ensuring the security, privacy and integrity of an organization’s e-mail and Web messaging systems. TFS Secure Messaging – Server guards against e-mail and Web messaging security breaches that threaten organizations with increasing frequency, leading to higher costs, lost business and significant employee productivity losses.

Jump Networks, Inc. announced the beta launch of Jump!, a free and connected calendar, email and address book on the Web. Jump! offers integrated online content and event information. To fully leverage online content and the power of the Web, Jump! offers unmatched free synchronization with major PIM’s and PDA’s via Puma Technology’s IntelliSync. Through IntelliSync for JUMP!, users may synchronize with Microsoft Outlook 97/98, Microsoft Schedule+, Lotus Organizer, Lotus Notes, Symantec ACT!, Windows CE 1.0/2.0 devices, and PalmPilot and PalmIII connected organizers.

GWI Software announced a front office suite for the Lotus Notes and Domino environment. The GWI Collaborative Front Office suite delivers a comprehensive set of applications that automate sales, marketing, customer service, knowledge management, IT help desks, asset management, as well as Internet and intranet-based end user self support. One of the components of GWI’s Collaborative Front Office suite includes Sales Version 7.0. Sales is the sales force automation component of the suite. Sales includes a complete set of features including contact management, activity management, lead procurement from the Internet, and support for the 3Com PalmPilot. Sales enables sales teams to close sales more efficiently and provides sales managers robust tools for forecasting and opportunity management. Sales is also Web-enabled, empowering sales people to access the major features via a Web browser or a Notes client.

Fox News has this look at yesterday’s events at Lotusphere. Yesterday’s events included a look at Release 5 of Notes and Domino and the new agreement with America Online.

What’s in store for the second day of Lotusphere 99? According to Lotus, the focus today is on Knowledge Management and e-business.

Lotus Development Corp. previewed two new Lotus eSuite products, eSuite DevPack 2.0 and eSuite WorkPlace 2.0 for Domino. Both products are expected to ship in April 1999. eSuite DevPack 2.0 is a comprehensive set of Java Web applets and utilities that helps Domino developers more quickly build interactive Web applications for intranets and extranets. eSuite WorkPlace 2.0 for Domino is a collection of Java applets that provides a business productivity solution for use in Web browsers.

Lotus Development Corp. announced the availability of its collaborative Web application server. With Release 5, the Domino Application Server will offer broad connectivity to enterprise data, including support for ERP applications, RDBMS and transaction processing systems.