What's new in Lotus Sametime Standard 8 software

Lotus Sametime Standard software expands on existing capabilities with better-than-ever Apple Macintosh support, support for even more mobile devices, increased performance, and more.

Enhancements include:

• Improved performance
  Lotus Sametime Connect starts more quickly and chat histories open almost twice as fast
• Enhanced Microsoft Office and Microsoft Outlook Integration
  A new, optional, Lotus Sametime toolbar for Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel makes it even easier to search for your contacts and to start chats inside Microsoft Office. Lotus Sametime Standard now supports Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Outlook 2007, and makes it easier to install the Microsoft Office integration components. In addition, IBM Lotus Notes users can use smart tags in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Microsoft SharePoint integration
  Lotus Sametime Standard 8.0.2 software extends out-of-the box integration to Microsoft SharePoint without requiring any modifications to existing SharePoint sites. Any Live Name will indicate online presence, and a simple click presents the full suite of Sametime capabilities. (Note: This integration is also provided in Lotus Sametime Entry 8.0.2 software.)
• Apple Macintosh: enhanced Lotus Sametime client
  Enhancements include Apple Leopard OS 10.5 support, point-to-point video, location awareness, alerts — bouncing dock icon — on new and incoming IMs, and you can now launch Lotus Sametime Connect at startup.
• Lotus Sametime Mobile enhancements
  Enhancements include support for new devices (RIM BlackBerry 8300 Series (Curve), Nokia E-series E51/E65/E90, Sony Ericsson P1i, Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6 devices [Standard & Professional], enhanced new message notification, and up to 50% reduction in idle power/bandwidth consumption.
• Streamlined alerts
  Single-click, one-time alert for when someone comes online
• New screen capture annotation tools
  New tools to annotate a screen capture before sending them to a chat partner — you can now draw lines, arrows, squares, and circles
• Updated screen capture capabilities
  New annotation tools make it easier to highlight screen captures before sending them to a chat partner, and you can now capture a screen and copy or save it as an image file — even if you're not in a chat.
• Chat date stamps
  Include date stamps in chat transcripts (in addition to time stamps).
• Contact search and icons
  Now always accessible because are they are now located above the plugin panel.
• Notification settings for plugins
  Notification preferences for plugins can be set in the same preference panel as the standard Lotus Sametime notifications.
• Plugin management
  Automatically migrate prior-installed plugins.
• Prevent accidentally starting large chats
  New option to confirm when you starts events with more than a specified number of people.
• New options for Single Sign-On (SSO)
  New options for SSO for Microsoft Windows users, which relies on the Microsoft Windows SPNEGO mechanism. This mode can be used for general SSO, based on the current Microsoft Windows session, and can also can be used with systems where people use a Common Access Card to log in. NOTE: Lotus Sametime's original, password-based, Microsoft Windows SSO is still supported.

Lotus Sametime Standard software's Web conferencing capabilities are easier to use, more manageable, and support more operating systems than ever.

Web Conferencing enhancements include:

• Enhancements to "fit to screen" and "full screen mode"
  Improved display quality when a Web conference participant selects "fit to screen," and the buttons are now visible buttons in full-screen mode, so that it's easier to return to the meeting room.
• Meeting Center search
  The new Search facility in the Lotus Sametime meeting center makes it easy to find Web conferences.
• Additional Web Conference policies
  New policies to control which users are able to share applications or take control of other's screens in a Web conference.
• Dynamic language display for the Lotus Sametime Meeting Center
  The Sametime Meeting Center can now be dynamically displayed in the meeting participant's local language, based on the preferences set on their PC.
• IBM AIX and Solaris application sharing
  Web conference participants can now share applications from desktop clients running IBM AIX or Sun Solaris.
• Concurrent use monitoring
  Enhanced monitoring and reporting for concurrent usage of Web conferences.

Lotus Sametime Standard software supports IBM Lotus Domino 8, adds new support for running on VMWare, and presents expanded opportunity for IBM Business Partners.

Platform and general enhancements include:

• IBM Lotus Domino 8 Support
  You can now deploy a Lotus Sametime server on Lotus Domino 8.
• Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) support
  Lotus Sametime Standard 8.0.2 software helps IT prepare the next generation of the Internet by supporting Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). (Note: IPv6 support is also provided with Lotus Sametime Entry 8.0.2 software.)
• VMWare support
  You can now run a Lotus Sametime server in a VMWare environment.
• Additional APIs for IBM Business Partners
  Additional Lotus Sametime APIs expand the possibilities and opportunities for IBM Business Partners, such as integrating Bluetooth headsets, providing more functions for chat logging, displaying telephony status for a person, and more.
  If Lotus Sametime has been integrated with third-party telephony capabilities, you can specify a preferred audio device instead of choosing between telephony or VoIP, and you can type a phone number in the quick find contact search to start an external call.

Lotus Sametime Gateway adds support or for connecting with even more IM communities, and is easier than ever to deploy and manage.

Lotus Sametime Gateway enhancements include:

• Additional Federation Capabilities
  Lotus Sametime 8 supports federation with XMPP-based IM communities. TLS support is available when connecting to XMPP communities (if the particular XMPP server in question supports it), and XMPP proxy server can be added to the cluster configuration.
• Easier installation
  Automatic-enabled administrative security; proxy server setup is now available; simplified and wizard-based LDAP configuration is available.
• Serviceability
  Community connection status available from the admin UI; you can specify server reconnect interval or frequencies via custom properties; new, consistent logging across components using the same log levels; improved logging (host name of the Sametime servers logged, for example); PMI request/response time statistics added.

• Demo: IBM Lotus Sametime 8 (EXE, 20.7MB)
• Demo: IBM Lotus Sametime Unified Telephony software (EXE, 14.8MB)
• Demo: IBM Lotus Sametime 8 user experience features
• Demo: IBM Lotus Sametime for Microsoft software users (December 2008)
• Demo: IBM Lotus Sametime for IBM Lotus Notes users
• Demo: Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions in action
• Download a trial version of Lotus Sametime