Relief for Lotus users as CIMtrek and CTS sign Google deal

Business deal

Millions of Lotus Notes users can breathe a sigh of relief as two UK companies have just inked a deal that will edge them nearer to the world of cloud computing.

CIMtrek and Cloud Technology Solutions (CTS) have teamed up to enhance the transition process for IBM Lotus to Google Cloud.

The partnership means the companies will be able to provide the tools necessary to migrate legacy applications to cloud platforms and, potentially, deliver an easy and cost-effective way of migrating, testing and supporting legacy business processes on secure cloud infrastructure.

CIMtrek was founded by industry veteran Jon Pyke who said with more than 180 million Lotus users in the world, there was "a lot of pent-up demand for 21st century technology". CTS is a Google Enterprise Partner.

"Notes has served its customers well with its collaboration and application building capabilities but it's heavy-duty in terms of support and cost when compared to the new web-based computing paradigm," Pyke added.

CTS chief executive Steve Kaye said his company's migration and, in particular, its GroupWise expertise, enable it to customise and automate the process of getting GroupWise users onto the cloud. The aim is now to do the same for Lotus users, he added.

"Yes, today we can migrate Lotus mail, calendars and contacts but that's only part of the story for IBM Lotus users," he said. "The CIMtrek-preferred Google Migration partnership now enables us to address customised applications as well. Some of these applications and processes are over 10 years old. They can't be ignored."

Kaye added: "In order to assess the problem at each site, we need the analytical power of CIMtrek and the easy and cost-effective way of migrating, testing and supporting the same processes on a massive, secure, cloud infrastructure."