IBM Attacks Exchange with Linux-Workplace Combo

Published: April 11, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

When Microsoft started winding down support for Windows 2000 a few years ago, IBM ratcheted up its Linux-to-Windows migration marketing machine. Even before that, way back in December 2002, IBM had programs in place to get customers to move off Microsoft's Exchange Server and on to a Domino messaging platform. Last week, IBM has created a new program that marries the migration from Windows-Exchange to IBM's Workplace middleware messaging running on Linux.

Under the "Move to the Penguin" promotion, IBM is taking some of the $100 million it is investing in the creation of its Workplace messaging product, an alternative to Lotus Domino that is build on top of WebSphere middleware and using DB2 as a data store, to get partners fired up about moving people off Exchange Server and on to Workplace running on Linux. Under the program, a reseller who gets a customer to unplug Exchange and move to Workplace on Linux can get $20 per seat from IBM, up to a maximum of 1,000 seats per deal.

Scott Handy, vice president of worldwide Linux and open source at IBM, says that IBM's Linux-on-Domino business is growing at over 200 percent, and that Big Blue wants to get Workplace into the action since it is a much leaner program aimed at customers who may not be looking for all the groupware features inside Notes/Domino. "People are moving beyond print and file serving with Linux, and companies want real applications. This is why we have seen such a spike in Domino on Linux."

Now, with a bounty on Exchange seats, IBM hopes that the 100 business partners who have been certified for the replacement program will unplug lots and lots of seats and get them moved over to Workplace and Linux. This partner marketing program is available in the United States and Canada until the end of the year, and will be rolled out for a six-moth period in other geographies as soon as IBM can get the partners ready--probably before year's end.