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AT&T: Not Finished With Notes

Will deploy Web servers for Net access service
By Stephanie Stahl
Issue date: March 25, 1996

AT&T is not giving up on Lotus Notes after all. While the company still intends to scrap its Network Notes service, AT&T says it will integrate Notes with its Internet services.

AT&T plans to deploy a network of World Wide Web servers that will run Notes 4.2 and be accessible via WorldNet, AT&T's Internet access provider. Notes 4.2, due to be released in the t hird quarter, will include native support for key Web standards, including HTTP, HTML, and Java. This will enable both Notes clients and Web browsers to access Notes applications residing on the servers. AT&T envisions the applications being used in areas such as electronic commerce, marketing, and publishing.

"We see Notes 4.2 as a development tool for Internet-based applications," says Scott Perry, VP of AT&T's business multimedia services in Basking Ridge, N.J.

AT&T's plan, announced last week, offers the same features as Network Notes, which the company scrapped in February after only seven months because of limited demand. The difference is that AT&T intends to rely on the Internet as a network-instead of using its own proprietary network.

"When AT&T first announced Network Notes, the Internet was not really an issue," says Bob Flanagan, an analyst with the Yankee Group Inc., a consulting firm in Boston. "But now, many of the core t hemes of collaboration and connectivity are being addressed by the Net."

AT&T hopes it can lure Network Notes customers to its Internet services. But some, including Egghead Software's Elekom unit, already have decided to move their business to Lotus parent IBM, which plans to offer a service similar to Network Notes on the IBM Global Network as early as next month. Other Network Notes users are investigating the Internet as an alternative and will consider AT&T's plan.

"We're very excited about this," says Bill O'Malley, president of early Network Notes user Data Clearinghouse Corp. in Los Angeles, which handles payment processing for large companies. "We firmly believe that ultimately there is a place for our service on the Internet, and we're delighted that AT&T might make that possible."

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