Lotus Foundations: first steps towards the lower end of the SME market

IBM is going after a slice of the lower end of the SME market, using technology from small Canadian start-up Net Integration Technologies, Inc (NITI), which it acquired in early 2008. NITI provides an easy to implement and manage Linux-based platform (now branded 'Lotus Foundations) for IBM and its partners to run their applications on. The first of a new line of Lotus Foundations server shipped in early June 2008 with Lotus Notes/Domino on top as Lotus Foundations Start (LFS). Alongside IBMs Blue House and Blue Business Platform (BBP) software-as-a-service (SaaS), online services and marketplace initiatives, it is part of a hybrid approach reminiscent to that of Microsofts 'software plus service strategy. IBMs new SME strategy is in its early days though. The company needs to articulate its strategy better and deliver on its online service promises.