Lotus Foundations

Infobox_OS
name = Lotus Foundations


caption = Foundations Start WebConfig Interface
developer = IBM
family = Linux
source_model = Closed source
working_state = Current
latest_release_version = 1.0.1
latest_release_date = Aug 25th, 2008
license = Proprietary
website = [http://www.lotusfoundations.com LotusFoundations.com]

IBM Lotus Foundations

IBM Lotus Foundations "Start" is the first in the Lotus Foundations family of software appliances, designed to deliver simple, affordable, and essential IT infrastructure to companies with 5 to 500 users.

IBM has designed the server appliance to simplify the IT problems typically associated with complex infrastructure level server solutions by automating the administration, configuration and server management.

IBM Lotus Foundations is also the first offering from IBM’s Blue Business Platform initiative designed to simplify the delivery and consumption of information technology to small and medium businesses. Lotus Foundations technology is based on a closed source Linux® core, but requires no Linux knowledge to administer. The IBM Lotus Foundations Start software appliance brings autonomic computing to the Small & Medium Businesses (SMB) market space, providing self-configuring, self-managing, and self-healing capabilities. It also offers tightly integrated remote administration, integrated disk backup, firewall, VPN, SQL and network layer antivirus and antispam protection. Its built-in disaster recovery system can complete a full system recovery within minutes. The software appliance is also designed to be installed within 30 minutes and requires little to no in-house technical resources to maintain. With self-configuration and self-management capabilities, Lotus Foundations Start offers a hands-off unique approach to IT.

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IBM has also packaged Lotus Symphony with Lotus Foundations Start to enable small businesses to work on spreadsheets, presentations, and documents without purchasing additional office software and upgrades.

The core technology behind Lotus Foundations Start was acquired by IBM in its February 2008 acquisition of a company called Net Integration Technologies, Inc. and its key products, Nitix and NitixBlue. IBM has made numerous enhancements to optimize Lotus Foundations Start for the SMB market, including:

* IBM Lotus office productivity tools.
* Integrated antivirus and anti-spam software, as opposed to a for-fee add-on option.
* The most recent version of IBM Lotus Notes 8 and IBM Lotus Domino applications.
* IBM Lotus Domino Access for Microsoft Outlook support for Outlook 2003 and 2007 versions.
* A fourteen-day trial for the IBM Sametime [http://www.unyte.com Unyte] Web conferencing service.
* An enhanced user interface to simplify remote administration.
* Ability to scale upto 500 users without requiring additional servers.

Features unique to Lotus Foundations

With its automated installation process, Lotus Foundations Start self-installs onto the hard disks, performs the proper partitioning, and system setup. During this process it also performs a network scan, determining whether it should enable its DHCP server, finds its gateway and internet access, and automatically configures its firewall. For modifications to the installation process, a keyboard and monitor can be attached to the server and changes can be made on the console. Further modifications can be made through the web interface.

The web interface is designed such that no other access is needed for configuration modifications in most cases. From this interface, you can set up users, teams, and file access along with email and collaborate through IBM Lotus Domino ®. Lotus Foundations Start also bundles antivirus and anti spam and offers services such as; web sites, FTP, Rsync services, NFS, Samba, AppleTalk; and more. Lotus Foundations Start also supports the nearly hands-free installation of IBM Lotus Domino, touting no administrative headaches and automation of maintenance tasks. This hands-off approach can be a large step for small and medium businesses that previously did not have a realistic stepping stone towards the enterprise-level functionality provided by IBM Lotus Domino.

Lotus Foundations Start's claim to fame is its proprietary integrated disk backup technology that performs continuous backups of the whole infrastructure, automatically backing up files, emails, and databases incrementally, as often as every 15 minutes. Backups are made to a hard drive located in the system that can be rotated to provide off-site redundancy. Restoring files can be done individually, by user or by entire system through its web-based interface. (U.S. Patent No. 7,165,154)

Lotus Foundations allows for the hosting of additional applications on the system. The architecture for the application services on the Lotus Foundations Start Software Appliance allows for applications to run in a virtual server environment, completely separated from the controlled operating system OS environment.

Another highly unique feature found in Lotus Foundations Start is its ability to plug right in within Windows, Macintosh, UNIX and Linux based network environments while remaining transparent to the client user.

Lotus Foundations Start offers multi-layer anti-spam protection based on e-mail filtering technology from Vircom and network profiling technology from Engate.

Versions

Lotus Foundations Start is sold to a business partner distribution channel as either software-only, or on select hardware platforms. The software-only version is geared towards partners that complement their own third party hardware systems with Lotus Foundations Start. Lotus Foundations Start can also be pre-configured on select hardware systems. Hardware selection depends on number of hard drives and form factor.

Distribution

Value added resellers can purchase Lotus Foundations Start and resell it to end users as part of their complete solution, usually involving other IT services or custom made applications.

References

* [http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23326.wss IBM's announces acquisition of Net Integration Technologies]
* [http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&supplier=877&letternum=ENUSZP08-0261 IBM Press Room]
*Nitix

External links

* [http://www.lotusfoundations.com Lotus Foundations Public website]
* [http://www.ibm.com/lotus/foundations/ IBM.COM website for Lotus Foundations]
* [http://www.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage IBM's Passport Advantage]
* [http://symphony.lotus.com Lotus Symphony]
* [http://www.ibm.com IBM.COM - Main site]
* [http://www-03.ibm.com/autonomic/pdfs/AC_Practical_Roadmap_Whitepaper.pdf Practical Autonomic Computing - Roadmap to Self Managing Technology]
* [http://www.bilal.ca Bilal Jaffery - Lotus Foundations Marketing Manager's Blog]
* [http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lfndswiki.nsf Lotus.com's Official Wiki Site on Foundations]