Article: The Intranet Solution: Extending Lotus Messaging Infrastructures

Running Windows 95, cc:Mail, Notes and Netscape Navigator as I am, I have four e-mail programs on my desktop: cc:Mail, Notes Mail, Microsoft Exchange, and Netscape Mail. I don't necessarily want them all, they're just there. As a user, I certainly don't want to monitor and manage multiple mailboxes or have different e-mail programs popping up at different times. As an information systems professional, I want to avoid multiple e-mail systems because of the high cost. With multiple e-mail systems, there are parallel hardware infrastructures and multiple solutions to the same problems such as dial-up access. At the same time, there are additional maintenance, administration, training and support and support costs while additional network bandwidth and user workstation resources are consumed.

The Intranet Solution

A strategic solution to this problem is to use World Wide Web servers to front end cc:Mail and Notes Mail. IBM, Microsoft, and other vendors are rapidly adopting open Internet standards in order to capitalize on business opportunities in the Internet and World Wide Web arena pioneered by companies like Netscape Communications. This development has significant implications for new systems and provides an opportunity for customers with existing investments in proprietary systems, such as Novell NetWare and cc:Mail, to move towards open Internet standards. Many customers are looking towards full adoption of open Internet standards and the ubiquitous deployment of World Wide Web technology.

World Wide Web of course is the mainstay of Intranet technology offering a universal means of data access and the web browser promises to become a truly universal client. A web solution for e-mail is technically feasible now and delivers several key benefits in addition to putting in place a single technology for access to all systems. From the Lotus messaging point of view, the challenge is to extend existing cc:Mail infrastructures to the web. With Domino, this has been accomplished for Notes but this changes the Lotus messaging integration landscape.

cc:Mail customers with a strategic commitment to Intranet technologies are caught between upgrading cc:Mail to R6 or migrating to Notes/Domino vs. converting to Internet-based e-mail technologies. With the emergence of Netscape's messaging solution, the term 'Intranet' suddenly means migration to the open Internet standards-based Netscape Messaging Server, Directory Server, and Communicator (which will be distributed with every Netscape Web browser). Lotus has recognized that it is the Intranet that will drive migration from cc:Mail to Notes/Domino, while Microsoft has eclipsed it's own messaging products in its panic to stop Netscape, practically taking Exchange out of the running. Of course both the Exchange client and cc:Mail R7 support POP3, the most common Internet e-mail protocol for PCs.

The battle lines are being drawn in many organizations as Netscape tries to invade the corporate enterprise messaging market, and Lotus tries to capture the corporate Intranet with Domino. All the while Microsoft is 'dumping' Internet Explorer and IIS into the market and rushing to incorporate web technology into its applications as well as into its personal and business operating systems. For the time being, Netscape still defines the term Intranet, but if Lotus has its way, it will be Domino, with its superior groupware, strong messaging, database and web publishing capabilities, that will emerge as the Intranet server standard.

cc:Mail for the World Wide Web (cc:Web) is a cc:Mail add-on product that enables a web server, such as the Netscape FastTrack Server, to act as a front end for cc:Mail, allowing cc:Mail user application to be replaced by web browsers. Similarly, Lotus' Domino web server for Notes allows access to Notes and Notes Mail through the web and creates the possibility of replacing the resource hungry Notes client with a web browser such as Netscape Navigator. Of course, the built-in Notes Web browser can be used for access to cc:Mail through cc:Web either because of an ongoing coexistence policy or as a transitional step. In this case, the web finally delivers a true cc:Mail client running within Notes.

The cc:Mail Mobile product and the Notes client used in its mobile mode and can both be replaced by web browsers, although functionality is not identical because web browsers do not have off-line capabilities. Nonetheless, access to cc:Mail and Notes through the web can be provided from anywhere at any time using dial-up TCP/IP (typically using PPP). This can include access through the Internet.

Collapsing Dial-Up Solutions with TCP/IP

Many customers maintain separate dial-up solutions for cc:Mail, Notes, LAN access, and Internet access. By standardizing on TCP/IP, these solutions can be collapsed into one open Internet standards based solution. Dial-up TCP/IP networking facilities can be implemented on a LAN, and access to Internet, the world's largest TCP/IP network, is universally available. Using dial-up TCP/IP users anywhere in the world can use local ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to access cc:Mail or Notes Mail, eliminating long distance phone calls and reducing dial-up hardware at the back end.

Of course it is possible to collapse dial-up solutions apart from web-based messaging and access to a corporate LAN from the Internet is optional. For example, the cc:Mail OS/2 multi-session Router, soon to be joined by a native NT Router, already supports multiple inbound TCP/IP sessions for cc:Mail Mobile clients, while Notes has native support for TCP/IP. The difference is that the web solution forces the issue.

Benefits and Drawbacks of World Wide Web Standardization

The benefits of the web solution apply to both users and administrators while enhancing cc:Mail systems from a technical viewpoint:

Consolidating Multiple Client Interfaces to a Single Web Browser

Implementing cc:Web and Domino for Notes Mail access offers several important benefits. Consolidating multiple client interfaces to a single web browser provides a universal client for multiple systems, reduces workstation resource consumption, and creates a cross training effect for web-based applications. If a customer has already deployed Notes, it makes sense to use the built-in Notes web browser. On the other hand, if a customer has already deployed Netscape Navigator, there is no need to roll out either cc:Mail or Notes clients. Consolidating multiple client interfaces to a single Web browser provides a more consistent user experience.

Users will of course require some retraining, although there should be a cross-training effect because the client software is identical for multiple systems and all applications within the browser are bound to the capabilities of the browser interface by the underlying data format (HTML). Retraining may also be necessary for VIM-based applications, such as Lotus Organizer, because, unless Notes is used as the browser, VIM-based applications have to be replaced (see VIM and MAPI Support below).

Integrating cc:Mail and Netscape Mail

If both cc:Mail and Netscape Navigator are deployed in the environment, the built-in Netscape Mail applet (called when a user selects a hyperlink containing an SMTP address) be integrated with cc:Mail. Actually, it is possible to make Netscape call another e-mail application in the Windows environment by editing Netscape's DDE settings but this does not allow an SMTP address to be used automatically within cc:Mail, and this is a manual work around not a solution. Microsoft's MAPI standard is minimally supported in Netscape Navigator but Netscape does not support web-based e-mail so a URL (pointing to a cc:Web server) cannot be specified as an alternate e-mail application (MAPI is only available on the Windows platform, and Netscape's implementation is extremely limited). This means that if Netscape Navigator is deployed, its built-in e-mail applet cannot be seamlessly integrated with web-based e-mail such as cc:Web or Notes Mail via Domino. The implication is that if a customer is in coexistence mode with cc:Mail and Notes, Notes becomes the web browser of choice.

Back-End Benefits of the Web Solution for E-Mail

The web solution for e-mail, using the Notes web browser, Netscape Navigator, or Microsoft Internet Explorer at the desktop, implies virtually no changes in the cc:Mail or Notes Mail back-end components. Existing administrative tools and mechanisms, message routing or replication topologies, and gateways or Notes MTAs all remain in place. Potentially, a web-based solution could eliminate maintenance and support of cc:Mail software on workstations. Further, implementing cc:Web reduces the urgency of deploying cc:Mail R6. Many customers are upgrading their cc:Mail desktops and databases to cc:Mail R6 but this substantial investment in software and human resources could in many cases be cut if a customer already has Notes or a web browser deployed. The reason is that the web solution converts cc:Mail from a file server based system to a more flexible and reliable client/server system using the same back end. This overlaps some of the benefits of cc:Mail R6 because it can increase reliability.

Protecting cc:Mail Databases with cc:Web

The cc:Web server addresses the main architectural vulnerability of cc:Mail as system: shared access to the cc:Mail database because the cc:Mail system is converted from a file server based system to a client/server system reducing network traffic and using Internet protocols rather than proprietary protocols such as Novell IPX associated with file sharing. the Intranet solution reduces network traffic from cc:Mail file I/O. Where cc:Mail post offices are stored on NetWare file servers, traffic will be TCP/IP rather than Novell's chatty IPX protocol. The web solution shields cc:Mail databases from user e-mail applications because users need no longer map network drives to file servers where cc:Mail post offices are stored. Unlike cc:Mail user applications, web technology works reliably in a WAN environment allowing greater centralization of e-mail facilities. At the same time, tight control over user workstation configurations required to stabilize cc:Mail systems becomes less important. In fact, workstation stability may be marginally improved just by reducing the number of server connections and mapped drives.

Separate cc:Mail, Notes, and other dial-up solutions using proprietary telecommunications protocols can be collapsed into one dial-up solution using open Internet protocols. This provides one dial-up solution for all systems while at the same time eliminating configuration and support of cc:Mail Mobile/Router communications and the management of cc:Mail Mobile directories and Bulletin Board propagation. Collapsing dial-up solutions reduces dial-up hardware for cc:Mail Routers and allows the number of cc:Mail Routers to be reduced.

Secure web-based access to cc:Mail and Notes Mail via Internet is achievable thanks to SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which is used in electronic commerce. SSL is supported by both cc:Web and Domino. Historical problems such as clear text password negotiation in older versions of cc:Mail are eliminated. Protecting a corporate WAN from unauthorized access by Internet users while at the same time making cc:Mail and Notes Mail available to authorized users via Internet can be accomplished in more than one way. The principal methods of accomplishing this are through port filtering on network routers and through the use of firewall software running on dedicated machines policing network traffic.

Drawbacks of the Web Solution

While the benefits of the web solution are substantial both tactically and strategically, there are also drawbacks. Virtually all of the drawbacks can be summed up as a reduction of functionality at the end-user workstation directly caused by the removal of cc:Mail applications. Similar limitations apply if the Notes client with its built-in web browser is replaced by a web browser.

Off-Line Functionality

Off-line functionality like as that of cc:Mail Mobile and the Notes client is substantially reduced or eliminated by the web solution. However, e-mail access can be provided through dial-up TCP/IP networking and Internet. The web solution entails a fully on-line Internet-based model of Mobile computing.

VIM and MAPI Support

Applications using Lotus's VIM (Vendor Independent Messaging) API will not work with web-based e-mail access. Applications such as Lotus Organizer must be replaced either with Notes applications where Notes is used as the browser, or with an application such as Netscape Calendar integrated with the browser itself. Netscape Navigator supports mail enabling through Microsoft's MAPI. However, this does guarantee a good solution for mail enabled applications with web-based e-mail. According to Netscape mail enabling non-MAPI mail applications and supporting other types of e-mail application integration with a web-based systems, such as cc:Web, is up to application vendors like Lotus. Application vendors can use the Netscape Plug-In API to add their own e-mail extensions to Netscape Navigator.

Extending Lotus messaging infrastructures to the web means consolidating multiple client interfaces to a single web browser (such as the Notes web browser, Netscape Navigator, or Microsoft Internet Explorer) and collapsing dial-up solutions to dial-up TCP/IP. It also means eliminating parallel hardware infrastructures and cutting the cost of software maintenance, administration, training and support. The web solution is less taxing on network bandwidth and user workstation resources than a traditional file server based cc:Mail system and cc:Web shields the cc:Mail database from user workstations. A web-based solution for e-mail is a strategic solution of great interest to customers looking towards full adoption of open Internet standards and the ubiquitous deployment of web technology.