Normally I try to stay away from proprietary solutions of this magnitude because there are plenty of open source solutions that can accomplish the same thing. But IBM is a staunch supporter of open source. At Lotusphere they go so far as to push the Notes Domino platform running on Linux as opposed to Windows.

Using Red Hat to host the Notes Domino platform provides the stability of Red Hat using a very strong collaboration suite that should meet any company’s needs. The suite can provide email, team rooms, document storage and very much more. Starting with version 8 it comes with Symphony, a free office suite built by IBM using the OpenOffice core code.

IBM’s Notes Domino platform provides the ability to build custom databases to fit your users needs. They can pull data from at least MySQL and Microsoft’s SQL server. You can then build that into a Notes database or an HTML page. The HTML can be rendered on Apache or the Notes Domino Web Server.

Along with the typical security provided by the Red Hat platform Notes Domino provides group and individual ACLs. The platform allows for customized security for individuals that are in the same group.

Red Hat and IBM have released a worksheet that will help you estimate your cost savings by migrating from Windows to Red Hat. It even includes the cost of the Domino servers and the Notes clients. You can find this work sheet here..

Migrating from Windows to Red Hat allows you to migrate at your own pace. The Notes Domino platform allows for a smooth migration by having the ability to mix the Red Hat and Windows environments. This allows you a smooth migration without any loss of production.

If you’re looking for a strong collaboration suite that can provide all of your collaboration needs at a cost effective price using the Notes Domino platform along Red Hat Linux is the one to consider.

-j