IBM Lotus released the latest version of QuickPlace, now called Team Workspace. After working with QuickPlace since its initial release, I feel that the latest features finally provide the integration and features needed to dominate this segment.

One of the most difficult problems facing users of v1 and v2 was the inability to get a quick listing of all of your sites. Frequently working with multiple teams, I belonged to many sites, but when I needed to locate a particular site I was faced with trying to remember sometimes arcane names or fishing around in emails to locate the URL. Now, Team Workspace provides the ability to see all of the sites to which you belong in "My Places". The upgrade to 3.0 would be nearly worth it for this feature alone!

Also in Team Workspace, Lotus provides integration with both Lotus Notes calendars as well Microsoft Outlook calendars! One big drawback to using the calendar feature in previous versions was that items did not appear in your personal calendar. So if a meeting was added to the site, unless you checked the site calendar frequently, you might not be aware of it. Now, you can synch your calendar with the Team Workspace and keep on schedule!

Finally, continued integration with Microsoft Office and standards-based extensions created in Java and XML guarantee that Team Workspace can be customized to fit your business's unique needs. The look and feel is completely customizable to fit the branding needs of your organization. Team Workspace can be integrated into Portals, providing instant colalboration and knowledge sharing.

IBM Lotus Team Workspace provides the features needed to enable the global virtual team while providing robust security and enterprise-level stability.