IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User's Guide: Mastering Online Enterprise Communication with this collaborative software

You may be saying to yourself, "I already have an instant messaging client". If you are familiar with instant messaging or IM for short, it's likely that you use one or more IM clients for personal purposes. Skype has IM and voice communications. Google has Google Chat and Google Voice. AOL has AIM, Microsoft has MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! has Yahoo! Instant Messenger. And let's not forget tools like Pidgin and Trillian that allow you to connect to multiple instant messaging systems all from one chat window.

But remember—you're at the office and many workplaces block personal chat services at the corporate firewall for security reasons. Exactly how might instant messaging work in an office environment? To give you a glimpse of instant messaging in action in the workplace, let's look at the following scenarios:

Obviously Sametime is not the only instant messaging or web meeting software tool available. However, in the business world, there are other usability factors to consider when choosing an instant messaging or online meeting client. Can you guarantee that the person on the other end of the chat is who they say they are? Are you sure that the content you type to the other person is secure from others who might be monitoring your connection? Is the password you're using encrypted? Why would that be important? Let's say you're a stock broker communicating with another broker over IM about the value of a stock. Would it be appropriate for that chat conversation to not be secure or encrypted? Probably not! With Sametime, you can communicate with others knowing that you're protected from eavesdroppers and malicious third parties.

Also, managing organizational knowledge is as critically important as maintaining a secured conversation. Pharmaceutical, health care, military, and financial organizations also must comply with international, federal, and state regulations regarding securing and maintaining copies of electronic communication that includes instant messaging. For profit, companies can't afford to have company secrets made public because a chat conversation or online meeting wasn't secured.

We've mentioned the importance of communication, but what about integration? Does your communication client integrate with other software running in your organization, making it easy to connect and collaborate? Trying to integrate consumer IM clients and business-related software is a difficult and time-consuming task. But with Sametime, those concerns disappear. Not only do you have a secure method of communication, but you also have a client you can use from your e-mail system, the web, your phone, or in an online application. Sametime integrates with the Lotus family of software, as well as with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft SharePoint.

We haven't even touched on Sametime's other strength as an office tool—online meetings. How many times have you tried to set up a meeting only to find out that someone is traveling on the only day you can set up the meeting? Or you have many slides you want to display during the meeting, but want to be able to annotate them and have users comment during the process? What about user polls or the ability to add video or audio during an online meeting? And what if you need to share your desktop during this meeting and share its contents or display an application during the course of a meeting? Sametime allows you to do that. Sametime online meetings provide a secure web-driven environment for meetings in and out of the physical office environment. No matter if you're separated by time zone differences or are using different types of workstations such as PCs, Macs, or Linux, you can still log into to the meeting center to attend the online meeting. Need to schedule an online meeting every week? You can do that! Need to allow white boarding during the

meeting for planning purposes? You can do that! You can open and schedule a meeting from your Sametime client. So while Sametime is about chatting, it's also about connecting with colleagues and teammates for work groups and discussions.

Another major benefit of Sametime is that it is not a "one-size-fits-most" offering. The Sametime client set allows instant messaging connections from various types of workstations and mobile devices. Sametime uses a central company directory for displaying contact information which can be customized—even including employee photos. Depending on the way you and your organization work, there are a number of different types of Sametime clients to best fit everyone's needs.

Sametime Embedded Client—the Sametime Embedded Client is what you use when you're running the Lotus Notes e-mail client and Sametime is "built in" to the client experience. In most cases, Sametime will be running in the Lotus Notes Sidebar as a "widget", or a mini-application within Lotus Notes. It can be set to automatically sign in when you start Lotus Notes, and you don't have to be concerned with running or starting a separate program for running Sametime.

Sametime Connect—Sametime Connect is the stand-alone Sametime client. When it is launched, it runs as a separate application, and is similar in nature to what you'd see if you were using an IM client like AIM or Skype. This configuration is ideal for users who don't often use the Notes client but need to have the capabilities of Sametime available on a constant basis.

Sametime Mobile—Sametime Mobile allows you to use Lotus Sametime instant messaging on Research in Motion BlackBerry devices, Microsoft Windows Mobile devices, Sony Ericsson mobile devices, and Nokia ESeries devices. The Sametime Mobile client is downloaded to the device and provides basic chat and "awareness" so you can remain in contact while away from your office computer.

Sametime for Lotus iNotes—Sametime basic functionality is also available to Lotus iNotes users. Lotus iNotes is the web collaboration client for e-mail and calendaring available for Lotus Notes users.

Why use one Sametime client versus another? The availability of Sametime clients and features may depend on how your computer is configured and which version of the Sametime server is in use at your company. There are a number of features that you may or may not have available based on the level of Sametime software installed in your workplace. There are four levels of Sametime available: Entry, Standard, Advanced, and Unified Telephony. Each subsequent level adds features to the previous level and determines what options you will have at your disposal.

Sametime Entry—Sametime Entry is the "get your feet wet" version of Sametime. As its name suggests, it provides a basic set of options which include instant messaging, online awareness, file sharing, geographic information, screen capture, and Microsoft product integration.

Sametime Standard—Sametime Standard builds on the Sametime Entry features to include web conferencing with video and/or audio, as well as instant screen sharing; Voice over IP (VoIP) chat for those installations on a VoIP network, support for Sametime Mobile, and integration with public IM systems like AOL, Google, and Yahoo through the Sametime Gateway system. Some integrated telephony voice options are available with third party vendor support like "click to call" and call management.

Sametime Advanced—Sametime Advanced is the next tier. It includes all the features of Sametime Entry and Sametime Standard plus expanded chat and web conference functions. Sametime Advanced offers chat room service, broadcast chat messages, and screen sharing from within a web conference.

Sametime Unified Telephony—Sametime Unified Telephony adds "unified communication" functionality. Many organizations are seeking to integrate chat, e-mail, and office applications, with what has typically been only phone-based functionality like voice mail, call routing, and caller presence. Sametime Unified Telephony adds those features to the Sametime product set.

Feature

Sametime Entry

Sametime Standard

Sametime Advanced

Sametime Unified Telephony

Feature

Sametime Entry

Sametime Standard

Sametime Advanced

Sametime Unified Telephony

Feature

Sametime Entry

Sametime Standard

Sametime Advanced

Sametime Unified Telephony

Feature

Sametime Entry

Sametime Standard

Sametime Advanced

Sametime Unified Telephony

After a brief introduction to the different Sametime clients and features, you now know how Sametime can improve your productivity and effectiveness on a daily basis. We've described some reasons why you and your company might be using Sametime. We've also described the different software levels and what options may be available.