IBM kills Lotus but keeps brand and products

NEWS IBM has been coy about the detail of its restructuring plans in the past, but has now admitted the Lotus structure will be totally dismantled and absorbed by its parent company. However, a self-imposed deadline for the restructure of 1 April will be missed. Complications with local employment and tax regulations have delayed, but not derailed, the integration until the autumn. The main European employee works council was briefed on the plans for the integration, and finally gave them the green light last week. Lotus has 2,500 employees spread across 17 European countries, and for some of these employees, such as the central European marketing group, changes will occur from early April. There will still be people dedicated to development, sales, marketing and support for the Lotus products, but these will now report directly or indirectly to a boss within IBM Software. Lotus UK managing director John O'Hara will now report to Steve Cowley, VP northern region, IBM Software. European VP and general manager Fritz Fleischmann will report to Maurizio Carli, VP IBM Software Europe. Internal changes should not mean upheaval for IBM/Lotus customers, insisted IBM Software's European marketing manager, Tony Occleshaw. "It's good news for customers and business partners," said Occleshaw, "The relationships will be a lot better managed and there will be a lot more integration between IBM products." As an example, Occleshaw drew attention to CeBIT last week, where IBM announced that Lotus Notes, IBM DB2 and Tivoli clients would all be integrated into the Symbian operating system. Occleshaw claims customers will no longer have one set of contacts for sales and support for Lotus and another set of contacts for IBM. by Andy Favell