IBM Sametime is a client–server application and middleware

Middleware

Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...

 platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence information

Presence information

In computer and telecommunications networks, presence information is a status indicator that conveys ability and willingness of a potential communication partner—for example a user--to communicate...

, enterprise instant messaging

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

, web conferencing

Web conferencing

Web conferencing refers to a service that allows conferencing events to be shared with remote locations. Most vendors also provide either a recorded copy of an event, or a means for a subscriber to record an event. The service allows information to be shared simultaneously, across geographically...

, community collaboration, and telephony capabilities and integration. It is sold by the Lotus Software

Lotus Software

Lotus Software is a software company with headquarters in Westford, Massachusetts...

 division of IBM.

Because IBM Sametime is middleware, it supports enterprise software and business process integration (Communication Enabled Business Process

Communication Enabled Business Process

The goal of a communication-enabled business process is to optimize business process by reducing the human latency that exists within a process flow. For example, a mortgage approval process may be experiencing human latency because the person assigned to providing an approval is on vacation or...

), either through a IBM Sametime plugin or by surfacing IBM Sametime capabilities through third-party applications. IBM Sametime integrates with a wide variety of software, including Lotus collaboration products, Microsoft Office productivity software, and portal and Web applications.

Features

IBM Sametime is a client–server enterprise application that includes the IBM Sametime Connect client for end-users and the IBM Sametime Server for control and administration. IBM Sametime comes in 4 levels of functionality:

IBM Sametime Entry provides basic presence and instant messaging.

IBM Sametime Standard provides additional functionality to IBM Sametime Entry, including:

• rich presence including location awareness
  Location awareness
  Location awareness refers to devices that can passively or actively determine their location. Navigational instruments provide location coordinates for vessels and vehicles. Surveying equipment identifies location with respect to a well-known locationa wireless communications device...
  
  
• rich-media chat, including point-to-point Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and video chat, timestamps, emoticons, and chat histories
• group and multi-way chat
• web conferencing
• contact business cards
• interoperability with public IM networks via the IBM Sametime Gateway, including AOL Instant Messenger
  AOL Instant Messenger
  AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
  
  , Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk
  Google Talk
  Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
  
   and XMPP
  Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
  Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
  
  -based services.
• open APIs that allow integrations between IBM's own and other applications
• Sametime Audio/Video Services supports audio (e.g. G.722.1
  G.722.1
  G.722.1 is a licensed royalty-free ITU-T standard audio codec providing high quality, moderate bit rate wideband G.722.1 is a licensed royalty-free ITU-T standard audio codec providing high quality, moderate bit rate (24 and 32 kbit/s) wideband G.722.1 is a licensed royalty-free ITU-T standard...
  
  ) and video codecs (e.g. H.264)

IBM Sametime Advanced provides additional real-time community collaboration and social networking functionality to IBM Sametime Standard, including:

• persistent chat rooms
• instant screen sharing
• geographic location services

IBM Sametime Unified Telephony provides additional telephony functionality to IBM Sametime Standard or IBM Sametime Advanced, including:

• telephony presence
• softphone
  Softphone
  A softphone is a software program for making telephone calls over the Internet using a general purpose computer, rather than using dedicated hardware. Often a softphone is designed to behave like a traditional telephone, sometimes appearing as an image of a phone, with a display panel and buttons...
  
  
• click-to-call and click-to-conference
• incoming call management
• call control with live call transfer
• connectivity to, and integration of, multiple telephone systems - both IP private branch exchange (IP-PBX) and legacy time-division multiplexing
  Time-division multiplexing
  Time-division multiplexing is a type of digital multiplexing in which two or more bit streams or signals are transferred apparently simultaneously as sub-channels in one communication channel, but are physically taking turns on the channel. The time domain is divided into several recurrent...
  
   (TDM) systems

IBM Sametime Gateway provides server-to-server interoperability between disparate communities with conversion services for different protocols, presence information awareness, and instant messaging. IBM Sametime Gateway connects IBM Sametime instant messaging

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

 cooperate communities with external communities, including external IBM Sametime, and public instant messaging communities, such as: AOL

AOL

AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

, AIM, ICQ

ICQ

ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...

, Yahoo, Google Talk

Google Talk

Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...

, and XMPP

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...

. IBM Sametime Gateway replaces the Sametime Session Initiation Protocol (SIP

Session Initiation Protocol

The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...

) Gateway from earlier releases of IBM Sametime.

The IBM Sametime Gateway platform is based on IBM WebSphere Application Server, which provides failover, clustering, and scalability for the IBM Sametime Gateway deployment.
The product is shipped with the following connectors: Virtual Places, SIP

Session Initiation Protocol

The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...

, and XMPP

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...

. More protocol connectors may be added.

Platform support, APIs and application integration

Because IBM Sametime is middleware, it supports application and business process integration. When within the context of real-time communications, this is often referred to as Communications Enabled Business Processes. It can do so in two ways:

• by surfacing the application into a IBM Sametime plug-in, or
• by surfacing IBM Sametime capabilities into the target application.

Some examples of integration between IBM Sametime and applications include:

• IBM's products including Lotus Notes
  Lotus Notes
  Lotus Notes is the client of a collaborative platform originally created by Lotus Development Corp. in 1989. In 1995 Lotus was acquired by IBM and became known as the Lotus Development division of IBM and is now part of the IBM Software Group...
  
  , Lotus Domino applications, IBM Connections, IBM Quickr
  IBM Lotus Quickr
  IBM Lotus Quickr is social team collaboration software, used by teams of people to share content. Lotus Quickr works inside and outside firewalls.Lotus Quickr can be described as three things:...
  
  
• Microsoft office productivity software including Microsoft Office
  Microsoft Office
  Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
  
  , Microsoft Outlook
  Microsoft Outlook
  Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
  
  , and Microsoft Sharepoint
  Microsoft SharePoint
  Microsoft SharePoint is a web application platform developed by Microsoft. First launched in 2001, SharePoint is typically associated with web content management and document management systems, but it is actually a much broader platform of web technologies, capable of being configured into a wide...
  
  
• portal applications, including portals built with IBM WebSphere Portal
  WebSphere Portal
  IBM WebSphere Portal is a set of software tools that enables companies to build and manage web portals.According to a Gartner Research comparison of software for horizontal portals, WebSphere Portal software is a leader in that market, having delivered "significantproduct innovation," and being...
  
  
• web applications
• packaged enterprise applications
• embedded and client–server telephony applications

IBM Sametime Connect, the client component of IBM Sametime, is built on the Eclipse

Eclipse (software)

Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment comprising an integrated development environment and an extensible plug-in system...

 platform, allowing developers familiar with the framework to easily write plug-ins for IBM Sametime. It uses a proprietary protocol named Virtual Places, but also offers support for standard protocols, including Session Initiation Protocol

Session Initiation Protocol

The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...

 (SIP), SIMPLE

SIMPLE

SIMPLE, the Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions, is an instant messaging and presence protocol suite based on Session Initiation Protocol managed by the IETF...

, T.120

T.120

T.120 is an ITU-T recommendation that describes a series of communication and application protocols and services that provide support for real-time, multipoint data communications...

, XMPP

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...

, and H.323

H.323

H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...

.

IBM Sametime Connect, the client component of IBM Sametime, is available for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, and Apple Mac OS X. Also available are a zero-download web client for Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari; mobile clients are also supported for Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, RIM Blackberry, and Symbian. The IBM Sametime server runs on Microsoft Windows, IBM AIX, i5/OS, Linux and Solaris. Sametime can also be accessed using the free software

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 Pidgin

Pidgin (software)

Pidgin is an open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple. Libpurple has support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various services from one application.The number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over 3...

 and Kopete

Kopete

Kopete is a multi-protocol, free software instant messaging client. Although it can run in numerous environments, it was designed for and integrates with the KDE desktop environment...

clients.

History

IBM Sametime has been an IBM product since 1998, when the product was the synthesis of technologies IBM acquired from two companies: the first, an American company called Databeam, provided the architecture to host T.120 dataconferencing (for web messaging) and H.323 Multi-Media Conferencing; the second was Ubique, an Israeli company whose software technology provided the "presence awareness" functionality that allows people to detect which of their contacts are online and available for messaging or conferencing.

In 2008, Gartner positioned IBM for the first time as a leader in their Unified Communications Magic Quadrant.

Version

Release	Date	Info
8.0	2007-11-19
8.5	2009-12-22
8.5.1	2010-08-04
8.5.2	2011-05-18