IBM to Build Foundations for SMBs

The rumored Lotus Notes for iPhone may be just that, a rumor, but IBM is readying a Lotus-branded technology, called Foundations, for businesses with 5 to 500 employees.The new product offering, announced Monday, will consist of servers bundled with Lotus Domino collaboration software as well as file management, firewall, backup, and other network tools. The software is also supposed to be "self healing," a boon to small companies without full-time IT staff.

Big Blue also announced a business-to-business collaboration solution to be made available on a Web-hosted, SaaS basis. The service, called Bluehouse, will enable contact and file sharing, Web meetings, and online chat. A beta version is available for testing at bluehouse.lotus.com.PC World