HCL is fully committed to enabling you and your organization to maximize the value you get from the Domino and Sametime platforms today and in the future.   In the latest release of Domino v11.0.1, we’ve delivered innovative new capabilities such as low-code app dev and integration with Microsoft Active Directory. We’ve also launched a brand new Sametime meetings solution over the last two years. The response from customers and business partners has been unanimously positive!    Today, we’re excited to announce, “Project Eleven,” a new program designed to help every Domino and Sametime customer running on releases prior to v11 have a smooth upgrade experience. As part of the HCL Digital Solutions Academy, Project Eleven’s goal is to enable you to:   Go straight to Domino v11.0.1: HCL now supports direct upgrades from any of Domino version prior to v11. Whether you’re on v8, v9, or older, you can go straight to v11.0.1 with no additional steps necessary. Experience the latest version of Sametime risk-free: Secure meetings and data privacy are the most important features in today’s environment. Sametime meetings runs on Cloud Native technologies allowing you to auto scale as needed. Experience our brand new, highly secure, scalable video meetings and enterprise chat risk-free. Augment your skills today: Attend our online training sessions and get best-in-class support and training from a technical advocate in your local language. We’re rolling out more than 40 webinars and workshops and new articles, cookbooks, and help guides. Speak to a technical expert: Schedule an appointment with one of our highly skilled technical advisors to understand your options and create an upgrade plan that’s right for you.    Check out the new Project Eleven webpage to find all the resources you need to make your upgrade worry-free.                                             

We’re proud to announce the HCL Domino Early Access Program, a new program that gives our customers and business partners a chance to test new product features early in the development cycle. This program provides a preview of features and functionality that may be shipped with a future version of HCL Domino and gives us the ability to incorporate your valuable feedback. At this stage, we are providing early access to features that contribute to HCL Domino v12.  The Early Access Program aims to get feedback on specific features, with a more formal traditional beta program planned at a later stage to receive feedback on the overall release quality and language packaging.  The Early Access Program is feature-driven and iterative, meaning new iterations and code drops will be made available as soon as it is declared ready for testing by our development team. New code drops can be provided in just a few weeks after the previous one, on short notice, without sticking to a fixed release cycle.   Based on your feedback we may proceed, improve or adjust the feature, or in some cases withdraw the feature from the code stream. The following graphic illustrates this concept: Each code drop is provided in the form of a Docker image which enables us to ship new iterations faster and to minimize the time to upgrade from one code drop to the next. You can expect us to deliver code drops at a fast pace as we want participants to have exclusive access to our latest product feature set. Please note that only the newest code drop will be available for you to download. How to Participate HCL Ambassadors who have registered Domino v11.0.1 Beta Preview will automatically be added to Domino Early Access Program. Customers and partners with a current Notes/Domino entitlement will also have access to the Early Access Program as of today. There is no need to register separately to participate. For overall...

Last week, our team of global support advisors hosted a webinar on best practices for upgrading to Domino v11. If you missed the webinar, feel free to watch the replay here. In this session, we covered several topics on how to prepare for a successful upgrade including: Baseline monitoring: Know your current workloads   Evaluating your environment: Should you upgrade in-place, or do you need new hardware? Deployment sequence: See the order of steps to upgrade your environment  Preparing your environment: What to do before your upgrade  Application upgrades: Learn how to handle your custom apps    We received a lot of questions during the webinar and you can find the Q&A recap below.    Want to learn more about what’s new in Domino v11 before planning your upgrade? Download this deep dive to see newest features. For our technical folks, check out this support article which provides a guide on how to plan your upgrade and a step-by-step guide for Domino install, setup, and upgrade tasks.   Q: Regarding Notes.ini, are there any tools we can use to check the values used in our Notes.ini to identify redundant ones?    A: DCT would be a good place to start, however there is no such tool available for the same. DCT will not detect duplicates. It is a best practice to start with a new notes.ini file.  Q: Can we get a list of Notes.ini obsolete parameters?  A: We are working on a consolidated article and will be publishing it soon.  Q: Is there a URL for recommend new Notes.ini settings to help weed out old Notes.ini settings?  A: Starting with a new Notes.ini file is the best way to ensure your file does not contain outdated settings.   Q: Can we have a mix of both Domino 9 for applications and Domino 11 for email servers?  A: Yes, you can upgrade your mail servers to version 11 now, and the application servers can remain at Domino 9.0.1. As mentioned, make sure that you are not mixing Domino versions in a cluster. Use a test pilot to see how well your Domino 9.0.1 applications work in the Notes 11 client.  Q: Is...

Low code is a software development platform that gives non-coders and coders alike the chance to develop applications through visual interfaces instead of traditional hand-coded programming.   In plain English, it’s the power to create processes without the technical experience or hand coding background application development once needed.  (It’s like suddenly being able to sing, dance, and generally dominate like Beyoncé without having to undergo 25+ years of endless practice and constant performing.)    Comparing application development to pop stardom may not be the most common way to highlight the potential benefits of low code. But by not requiring a background in coding expertise, low code allows a wider audience to create applications, making for a faster and potentially more innovative environment that companies can benefit from. (It’s like turning lemonade into even better lemonade. Ok that’s the final reference to Queen B, promise). But we’re just getting started diving into the upside of low code. Develop Business Software at Incredible Speeds Low code development should be fast.    Unlike the laborious line-by-line hand coding process that is traditionally associated with software programming, low code can go from concept to reality in a flash.  Low code allows developers to execute apps up to 60-70% faster than handwritten code, bypassing the time-consuming steps of repeatedly writing, testing and debugging code until it works correctly.  Low-code development can give designers drag-and-drop features through a visual user interface, making it easy to build intuitively while cutting down on complicated obstacles that only expert coders can spot and fix.  By making the process more visual and less repetitive, low code brings a newfound velocity to a typically slow undertaking.   Increase Enterprise Productivity  When you increase the speed of app building, and you save designers and developers time, you open new space up for productivity throughout the entire enterprise. But it’s not only the efficiencies that companies benefit from.  Those closest to a problem can fix it without a drawn-out drama that drains weeks of time and energy from the IT department. Solving...

Last week, we hosted our new Domino Volt July release webinar covering the latest features and enhancements. We had several demos on how to directly access your Domino data, workflow enhancements, service catalogs, PDF integrations and more. For IBM z and IBM i customers, we covered the latest integration with Z and I Emulator (ZIE) to turn green screen apps into REST endpoints that Domino Volt can use to build new workflows and apps.  We received a lot of great questions. You can find those questions — and the answers — below. Or catch all the excitement in this replay here:   Want more Domino Volt?  Try v1.0.1 in the updated Domino Volt sandbox. Register for a free sandbox account. For those who already have a sandbox account, new sample apps have been uploaded here.  We recently launched a Domino Volt roundtable series, where we introduce different important topics and host open discussions with our customers and partners. Join us for the following sessions: Domino Volt App Integration Strategies: Learn about integration techniques and options within Domino Volt. August 12, 2 pm ET. Register now.     Domino Volt Deployment Topologies: Learn about different deployment options to fit your needs. August 27, 2 pm ET. Register now. DOMINO VOLT FEATURES  Q: What additional resources are needed on a Domino server to handle Domino Volt?  A: Domino Volt requires Domino V11.0.1 or greater. That’s is all!  Q: If an app is built in Domino Volt, can it be modified in Domino Designer?  A: You could add additional views, agents, or other elements as long as you do not change or delete things that Domino Volt created.  Q: Where do you upload the PDF for fill-in?  A: In settings, there is a File section where you can load PDFs as well as images, CSS, JS, etc. as needed in the app  Q: Can a signature from a Domino Volt form be printed in PDF? Or even pictures from your smartphone?  A: The PDF fill capability in Domino Volt does not support adding an image or picture to a PDF.  Q: Can you deploy your...

Since July 2019, it has been HCL Digital Solutions’ mission to help our customers and business partners by introducing contemporary licensing and making license management easier for all our products. Today, we are taking the next step towards consolidating all of our Domino licensing on a "per user" license model – the HCL Domino Complete Collaboration offering a.k.a “CCB.” Effectively immediately, customers with HCL Domino Servers deployed under CCB Authorized User entitlements can be accessed by a Licensee’s entitled CCB Authorized Users and Guest Users. A “Guest User” can be an anonymous web user (no authentication), or an authenticated web user with a predefined maximum level of Domino application access (ACL) as “Depositor.” In addition, HCL Domino servers under CCB may participate in mail routing (SMTP), directory lookup and authentication (LDAP) for non-HCL Domino programs and permit access to free/busy time calendar information. HCL made these changes to the CCB license based on customer requests to facilitate: • A read-only external or internal web site for Guest Users • Data collection using surveys generated by Domino Volt 1.0.1 and its anonymous user support available today. • Removing the need for a separate Utility Server license for Guest Users with complex PVU reporting requirements. • Clarifying licensing for mail and calendar interoperability in multi-vendor scenarios involving our partner’s solutions. In August, HCL plans to update the formal License Information found here. In the meantime, you may refer to this blog or you can request a formal Product Notice for compliance. If you have any questions about this announcement or have any licensing questions, please contact your HCL product specialist or Business Partner. Uffe Sorensen & the Domino Product Team Disclaimer – HCL’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at HCL’s sole discretion. Information regarding...