Sharepoint gets Notes 8.5 integration from Mainsoft

Mainsoft added support for Notes 8.5 to its software that integrates the collaboration platform with Microsoft’s increasingly popular SharePoint Server.

In addition, SharePoint Integrator for Lotus Notes 2.0, includes a number of features for cross-platform and SharePoint calendar integration, managing document storage and integration with hosted SharePoint Online.

While SharePoint has been enjoying popularity among corporate users and is one of Microsoft’s fastest growing products, IBM is trying to stem the tide with its Quickr software, which is similar to SharePoint. Quickr, Notes and Sametime are part of IBM’s portfolio of integrated collaboration products. IBM has its own data migration tools for moving SharePoint data to Quickr.

Mainsoft’s client-side software, which adds some user controls to the Notes client, also brings Lotus Sametime, IBM’s real-time platform, into the collaboration mix.

Users can drag-and-drop files and email from Notes to SharePoint and from SharePoint to Notes and Sametime.

The Mainsoft plug-in was developed using the Eclipse Rich Client Platform and SharePoint’s Web Services interfaces.

Mainsoft also has a number of other features including a “replace attachment” control that gives users the option of storing large files in SharePoint and emailing a link to the file.

“With features like that we think you can save 30% on email storage over time,” said Yaacov Cohen, CEO of Mainsoft. “We think that accounts for about $10 per user per year.”

Users can also aggregate all their calendar items in their Notes personal calendar, including personal appointments and team meetings. Mainsoft also has added an automatic check-in/out feature so documents aren’t left open by inattentive users.

In addition, integration with SharePoint Online means users don’t have to worry where SharePoint is installed. Users are also forced to added meta-data to documents they upload to SharePoint. Mainsoft plans to add in the future features such as caching of favorites and last visited folders to its online support.