[fusion_text]Is managing your enterprise’s Domino Infrastructure taking up too much time ? Tired of maintaining on premise servers? Need a smarter solution for your on-the-go workforce? It’s time to switch to IBM SmartCloud.

IBM SmartCloud was introduced by IBM as a step ahead technology to simplify Domino Administration and overcome other hiccups in maintaining on premise servers and other Domino Administration challenges. Available on cloud, it is a capsule of all collaboration tools that forms the backbone of any organization, minimizing the task of Domino Administrator in managing the Domino Infrastructure.

9 Points to make the case for IBM SmartCloud:

How does it work?

IBM has hosted a series of servers in their cloud that can take care of various collaboration activities from mailing to chat and meetings services. You just have to migrate your infrastructure to their cloud and IBM takes the ownership of managing and providing service to the migrated entities. All queries with regards to the service, server uptime, performance is handled by IBM and they ensure that they keep up the service up to 99.999% which ensures no business disruptions due to service downtime, slowness, connectivity issues etc.

The Offerings

IBM SmartCloud’s offering falls broadly into two types: Service Only & Hybrid

The Service-only offering is available for mail servers where you can move entire mail boxes (both shared and generic) to the cloud and shutdown local mail routing. The mail gateway is set to point to Connections cloud on domain controller.

In the Hybrid Cloud offering, local Domino Administrator can choose to move which part of on premise to be migrated to the cloud. A pass through server is installed to mirror any customized important settings from on premise to cloud servers. You do not need to take infrastructure settings like gateway servers, old mail servers offline.

Here’s a quick comparison of the two offering on 10 important parameters:

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Which offering is right for my enterprise?

That depends on the kind of solution you are looking for. If you are happy with your current system and just want to augment a few departmental needs, a service-only solution will do the trick. If you want to switch from a paper-based system but have nothing more than a solid infrastructure in place, going for the hybrid offering is your best bet.

Some additional features that could tilt the balance in your favor:

• IBM provides free licenses to existing Lotus notes users to encourage smartcloud migration.
• Introduction to new cloud technologies like IBM Verse, Connections, file sharing is given by default with Cloud.
• Inbuilt plugins like Sametime, connections are given by default.
• Traveler, Blackberry services are available by default.

Range of Cloud varieties to choose from normal IBM Connections Cloud Basic to Advanced S2 Engage.

Playing the devil’s advocate

Before you propose a switch, do keep in mind that the following features are currently missing from IBM SmartCloud:

• Backup and Recovery options are missing
• Migration from Quickr to Connections cloud is missing
• Transferring of old mails to cloud is not possible
• Restriction in migrating notes applications to cloud
• No interface to collaborate other tools with Cloud servers
• Domino Administrator will have nil access and control on cloud servers

However, we can help you overcome these limitations. Maarga is a leading IT consulting firm helping enterprises across the globe with world-class IBM SmartCloud expertise in areas related to:

• Lotus Migration Planning
• Setup, Deployment & Roll-out
• Testing & Support