The latest major release of Domino is here, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, we think it’s certainly worth a look. This much-anticipated new release is the third major new version of the Notes/Domino platform since HCL took it over in 2018. In other words, HCL has stuck to its promise to deliver a major new release of the platform every year. Perhaps more importantly, v12 marks another step in what is turning out to be a really coherent product strategy for Notes/Domino.
We’ve already picked apart the key features in the new release when it was first announced back in November. There’s quite a lot in there, but in summary, it comes down to these:
Improved Server Admin
Quicker and easier install process, support for better backups, license tracking.
Better Client Experience and Easier Admin
The introduction of Nomad Web makes it possible to switch away from the Notes client and run everything - mail, calendaring, custom apps - in a browser.
More Mobile Support
New @Formula commands make it easier to build responsive mobile apps.
Security Improvements
Active Directory password sync and two factor authentication have been added.
Notes Client Modernization
More UI improvements to the Notes Client are included in this release.
All of that is great, but we want to take a step back from the detail for a minute and look at what this release tells us about where HCL is going with the platform. In June, HCL staged a virtual launch event for v12, and used it as an opportunity to clarify much of their messaging around the Domino platform. And it seems pretty clear that, two years into their ownership of Notes and Domino, they have a nice vision of where they are taking this product and they are executing it well.
During the launch event, HCL shared some interesting numbers on their customer base - something I’m not sure I ever remember IBM doing, at least not since the early 2000s. HCL announced that they have somewhere in the region of 15,000 Domino customers worldwide, and also claimed that that number is growing. They also said that 42% of their customers are already on v11 of Domino, and that in the year or so since that version was released, it’s been downloaded 78,000 times. All of which suggests that the Domino platform is, in fact, alive and well. To underscore that point, HCL coined the phrase “the world is (still) powered by Domino” and screened a video of a little skit that they’d produced.
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, if you can, from watching it:
OK, I didn’t really get it either. So let’s move on from that and get to the important stuff. HCL is pushing three major messages in what they are referring to as their “breakaway release” of Domino:
1. Cloud Native, Flexible Deployment
Unlike IBM, who wanted to host Domino for you themselves, HCL is really pushing their support for multiple different cloud environments. HCL already supported Domino running on Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon AWS or Kubernetes, and with v12 they are adding support for Red Hat Openshift. The message from HCL is, Domino provides a single, simple deployment that runs on any cloud.
2. Low Code for Everyone
Soon after the release of Domino v11 in early 2020, HCL introduced Domino Volt, a new and simple way to build browser based, native Domino apps. In a way, Domino Volt returned to the roots of Lotus Notes, allowing business people with no programming experience to build simple but very effective forms-based applications. Honestly, there’s nothing spectacularly new in Domino Volt for v12. But it’s an important piece of the messaging and, since it shipped between v11 and v12, we’ll give them a pass on that.
3. Better App Experiences Everywhere
This, for our money, is the area where the v12 release moves HCL’s strategy furthest forward. HCL Nomad has been around for a year or so, and it delivered the seemingly impossible: the ability to run a Notes application (mostly) unchanged, on a mobile device. With the release of Nomad Web comes the holy grail for the Notes/Domino world, the ability to run native Notes apps in a browser without having to install a massive clunky plug-in first. And thus, it doesn’t matter whether you’re running a 20 year-old app built for Notes R5 or a web-only app built using Domino Volt, the user experience, and the way of accessing the app, will be largely the same. It didn’t escape our notice that, despite there being some improvements to the Notes client app in v12, Notes didn’t get any airtime in the launch keynote at all.
So that’s it. HCL is continuing to execute on what seems like a sensible, coherent strategy for the Domino platform, and v12 is a big step in that direction. After years of simmering on the back burner, it’s nice to see the Domino platform heating up again, and v12 is possibly the most significant release in that respect. That’s quite an achievement, for a 30-plus year old product.
If you have any comments or questions on our analysis of v12, or anything else related to the Domino platform, click below to start a conversation. We love to chat!