By: Mitsuru Katoh
The IBM Notes and Domino roadmap has been the topic of conversation in community events several times over the last year. Our Nov. 3 webinar with IBM contained some of the latest information. Teamstudio attended IBM Connect 2017 in San Francisco this year where IBM shared their updated plans. At the beginning of the event, I was unsure whether Notes and Domino would be lost among the other topics, but after hearing IBM’s emphasis on their commitments to Notes and Domino, I now feel that the technology is approaching a fourth quarter comeback. Below, you’ll find information about IBM’s support plans and details about upcoming Notes and Domino Feature Packs.
Support
With regard to the End of Support (EOS) timing of IBM Notes and Domino 8.5.x and the EOS of 9.0.1, there is no change from what has been announced so far. Support for 8.5.x will end in September 2018. 9.0.1 will be supported at least until 2021.
From IBM
IBM Notes Feature Pack Functionality
Let's take a look at the IBM Notes Feature Pack (FP) content released on Feb. 22 at an IBM Connect 2017 breakout session. There are two screenshots below: the first shows the announcements made during our Nov. 2016 webinar with IBM, and the second shows the announcements made at IBM Connect 2017. The big difference from Nov. is that items listed under high and medium priority in Nov. are now assigned to FP8 and FP9. FP8 was released today, Mar. 7, 2017. FP9 is scheduled for the end of this year, and the timing is becoming clearer.
From Nov. 2016 Webinar
From presentation at IBM Connect 2017
The following functions are included in FP8:
- Java 8 runtime support
- Function to switch the address display in Mail / Calendar / Contacts / Tasks from Notes address to internet address (this was demonstrated)
- Improve rendering of MIME format messages (this was demonstrated)
- Update email templates
- Policy support for Group By Messages and beginning of message
Improvement of MIME format rendering of forwarded mail from the plan from Nov. 2016 has been added. As a precaution, updates on templates will be downloaded in a separate download format and it will be necessary to download it separately from the FP.
In FP9, IBM says the following is scheduled:
- Upgrade OSGi / Eclipse / SWT to support Java 8
- Ability to run rules on existing emails (this was demonstrated)
- Support for persistent VDIs for Roaming and SAML configurations
- Support for Last Name / First Name mail addressing in Notes client providing consistent results
- Support auto refresh for delegated mail files
IBM Domino Feature Pack Functionality
Next is the IBM Domino and application development FP functionality.
From Nov. 2016 Webinar
From presentation at IBM Connect 2017
The following functions are included in FP8:
- Upgrade Java 1.8 (run time only)
- Move Views outside of NSF for increased data store in NSF
- Document encryption for XPages
- Backend LotusScript / JavaScript / Java Access to ID Vault
- Increase Document Summary limit from 64k to 16MB
- Domino Designer source control extension point for Swiper integration
- Pubnames template update
- Support ADFS 3.0
- New @ModifiedInThisFile, @AddedToThisFile
An update of the Pubnames template has been added, but it seems an inevitable change due to the switch option from the Notes address to the internet address. Also, it seems that correspondence to Java 1.8 seems to be divided.
In FP9, IBM says the following is scheduled:
- Upgrade to Java 1.8 (Designer Compile time)
- Upgrade OSGi on Domino Server
- NIF: concurrency enhancements (inline view update)
- Domino policy to restrict mail from forwarding to an internet address
- Support RFC 2231. It was not widely used for many years. It is now the default for many mail clients, e.g. Thunderbird.
The audience at Connect applauded many of these planned features. We expect IBM to continue releasing details of the roadmap and planned FP contents as they become available.
-Mitsuru Katoh, IBM Champion, Teamstudio