IBM has succumbed to pressure to explain its decision not to support the i5/OS version of DB2 to store Domino documents in Domino 8 and is due to host a webcast on the issue on Wednesday, November 14.

Domino 8, the recently released version of Big Blue’s email and collaboration software, had been expected to contain the DB2 connection for i5/OS, known as NSFDB2. Such a connection is available to other platforms.

At the time System i users noticed this discrepancy in August, both the COMMON Europe and COMMON U.S. user groups were up in arms. A joint survey indicated that the inability to use the i5/OS version of DB2 to store Domino documents and data would have a significant business impact on the use of the software.

“The message many of our members received from IBM [after the Domino 7 announcement] was that the support would be available in the next release,” said Olga Miralles Mulleras, president of COMMON Europe. “We had no indication that IBM’s plans had changed.”

The controversy is reminiscent of IBM’s decision to discontinue support for its OV/400 OfficeVision application for the AS/400 in 1999. Many OV/400 users had built whole infrastructures around the product and, as now, the COMMON user groups were incensed. In the end, IBM was forced to drag out  OV/400’s eventual death for some time. The irony is that IBM was at the time trying to drive its OV/400 customers to Domino.

Another irony is that this strategy seemed to work. Survey results released in August from North America indicated that 41% of COMMON members used Domino systems hosted on i5/OS servers. Nearly three quarters of those organisations (72%) said that IBM’s decision would affect their businesses and will have an impact on their use of the Domino platform.

Assuming NSFDB2 support was not made available, 28% of COMMON U.S. members said that they would be forced to move their Domino servers to a different operating system. Nearly as many (25%) said that planned development projects would be delayed and 17% expected that they would be forced to abandon Domino altogether.

European survey results showed than an even higher percentage (58%) of COMMON members used Domino on i5/OS servers. All of those organisations said their businesses will be affected by IBM’s decision.

In August, Miralles and Randy Dufault, president of COMMON North America sent a letter to Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive of IBM's software group, asking that IBM reconsider adding NSFDB2 support for i5/OS to Domino.

However, IBM’s stance, via its Domino blog, is: "Lotus does not plan to deliver DB2 integration on Domino for System i or other platforms beyond the Microsoft Windows, AIX, and Linux platforms that were delivered in 8.0. The additional resources and time required for a complete implementation of NSFDB2 on System i are very significant."

Anyone waiting for a U-turn looks as if they are going to be disappointed. The November 14 webcast, hosted by Bill Hume, director of Domino development, aims to “review Domino 8 for System i, including strategies going forward and alternative solutions to a key concern that was identified by System i users of Domino.”

Seamus Quinn, editor