The big news stories around Domino today.  First I want to honor Antoine “Fats” Domino who passed away October 25th.  Fats was an amazing Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Famer, performing for nearly 60 years.  He had 35 records on the Billboard Top 40 with songs like “Blueberry Hill.” Fats Domino had an amazing list of achievements in his lifetime.

On this same day, as if keeping his name alive like the Olympic flame, IBM announced that the Domino product line has been energized with what I believe is unprecedented financial backing not seen since IBM acquired Lotus. IBM announced several key things around the brand including a partnership HCL to provide an infusion of product development.  The product list includes:

• IBM Notes and Domino
• IBM SmartCloud Notes
• IBM Notes Traveler
• IBM Mobile Connect
• IBM Verse
• IBM Mail Support for Microsoft Outlook (IMSMO)
• IBM WISPR
• IBM Enterprise Integrator (LEI)
• IBM Sametime portfolio
• IBM Connections Chat/Meetings
• IBM Client Access (ICAA)

Along with this announcement is the next major release Domino 10, scheduled for 2018.
You can register to participate in the community input on the product roadmap with #Domino2025 Jam.  And version FP10 for Version 9.0.1 is on track to be released by end of year.

IBM already established the success of the IBM-HCL partnership with their Tivoli and Rational Software brands, so this will be a natural extension of that partnership.

IBM Domino, like its musical namesake, already has legendary longevity of success.  I would not be surprised to see IBM Notes/Domino portfolio rival the career of the Great “Fats” Domino.

By the way, IBM, thanks for using Yellow in your announcement.

It is that time of year again.  If you know someone who has stood out in the IBM world, go here and nominate them so they get the recognition they deserve.

Here are the criteria taken from the nomination page:

Demonstrate both expertise in and extraordinary support and advocacy for IBM technology, communities, and solutions.
Share advocacy and influence both within and outside their organizations or customer engagements.
Influence and mentor to help others make the most of investments in IBM software, solutions and services.

You want to nominate (or renominate) those who have offered significant contributions over the past 12 months. Consider what you (or they) have done that is regular, significant, impactful. Contributions should be above and beyond a nominee’s job duties, but may be internal or external. The list below is just a few example

– Regularly blogging or creating other technical content
– Tweeting regularly (on topics relevant to our industry, but not necessarily IBM-specific tweets)
– Speaking at multiple events in a calendar year
– User Group Conference Committee member (involves the planning and execution of one or more conferences, events, or meetups)
– President, Leader, or Board member of a worldwide or local user group
– Providing regular customer reference engagements
– Regularly being an advocate for IBM products inside your organization, making connections, and educating users

IBM has extended the power of artificial intelligence to business persistent chats.  The software is called IBM Watson Workspace and it was just released last week.  The power is not just in its ability to interpret content and context, but also that it can be integrated with so many other platforms via the APIs.  Rather than write my interpretation of it, I will let you start by reading and watching what IBM has put together here.