CSC Launches Dedicated IBM Lotus Consulting Practice

CSC on Tuesday unveiled a consulting practice dedicated to IBM Lotus software, plus a new Collaboration-as-a-Service (CaaS) offering that melds together a rapid deployment model with the per-user, per-month service plans often included as a public cloud option.

"CSC has a longstanding engagement with IBM in providing leading-edge solutions that can be integrated into a seamless collaboration experience, and we are excited to unveil our new consulting practice and on-demand IBM Lotus service here at Lotusphere 2011," said John Glowacki, CTO at CSC. "The most important piece of creating value for our new and existing clients is to understand their long-term strategy around collaboration, and if it doesn't exist, help them define it. Once defined, with these enhanced offerings, we are able to deploy new solutions faster, and enhance existing collaboration services so that they are less expensive to manage and easier to use."

Advanced Collaboration Solutions for IBM Lotus joins CSC's existing family of business collaboration solutions. But CSC has long-supported IBM Lotus technology, and currently manages more than 1 million seats of IBM Lotus collaboration tools, according to the solution provider and integrator. CSC's new services will expand its capabilities, allowing customers to enhance, expand, and extend their collaboration options, the company said.

CSC provides traditional consulting services -- such as product selection, upgrades, and deployment planning -- for Lotus Notes/Domino, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Connections, and Lotus Quickr.

The Falls Church, Va.-based integrator -- which had revenue of $16.1 billion in its last four quarters, ended Oct. 1, 2010 -- also offers CaaS services, built on its Trusted Cloud platform which includes flexible vendor selection, data security, implementation, and integration services. The Trusted Cloud, designed to meet the requirements of highly regulated or secure environments, adheres to standards and certifications including Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) compliance, all hosted in CSC's SAS 70 Type II, Tier 4+ data centers, according to CSC.

CaaS is getting attention from integrators, telecommunications companies such as France Telecom's Orange Business, and enterprises. In February 2010, for example, Microsoft granted Orange Business "approved reseller" status to sell and distribute Microsoft's Online Services in 21 nations as part of an integrated suite designed to meet businesses' collaboration needs, according to Connected Planet.