IBM Corp and Lotus Development Corp have announced the general availability of the Lotus Domino Server on IBM System 390 mainframes. The mainframe version of Domino, the web-enabled server version of Lotus Notes, is particularly aimed at companies working on electronic commerce systems. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, general manager of IBMs internet division, claimed the S/390’s high availability rating can increase availability from the 93% per year availability typical for PC-based systems – up to 29 days downtime in a year of 24 hour a day, seven day a week operation – up to 99.999%, or five minutes downtime per year. Eileen Rudden, senior vice president of communications products at Lotus said that Domino sits at the heart of IBM’s electronic business strategy. Lotus said in January that the S/390 running Domino will support up to 10,000 concurrent users, a judgment they are sticking by some nine months later. The companies have announced an additional product to be used in conjunction with the S/390 and Domino, the S/390 StarterPak, a low cost server offering incorporating services, hardware and pre-loaded software, including the OS/390 operating system. The StarterPak can support electronic mail users and Lotus Notes database applications. Domino is available on the S/390 immediately with prices starting at $15,250 for a software license and a one year maintenance agreement.
