Mainsoft integrates SharePoint with IBM tools

Mainsoft says it can demonstrate full integration between IBM’s Lotus and Rational tools with Microsoft SharePoint.

The demonstration is scheduled for the Rational Software Developer Conference in Orlando, at the Mainsoft booth.

CEO Yaacov Cohen told ZDNet the main beneficiaries will be development teams which include office staff and merged firms whose parts are locked into one side of the divide or the other.

“Our customers have a lot of issues due to lack of integration between the Microsoft stack and the Java stack. Most organizations have a mix of assets. They’ve got Office, they’ve got Sharepoint, but they may also have Websphere or Lotus Notes or IBM’s Jazz.”

Mainsoft is acting as a trusted third party which can enable the two worlds to interoperate, Cohen said. 

“We don’t have a platform interest. We’re coming from the customer’s standpoint. We’ve been doing this for 15 years. What looks like a big divide can be bridged, if you look at it from the customer’s standpoint,” he said.

“When you look at the software development process, about 50% of the people in the process are not developers. They are program managers, operation managers, product managers. To have a successful product you need multiple disciplines involved.

“To achieve that you need a collaboration tool, like SharePoint or Quickr, to be tightly integrated with your development platform and Jazz. Only then do you have real collaboration.”

This will now be possible through Mainsoft, which says it has been working at the problem from the IBM side for some time.

In its demonstration, Cohen said, Mainsoft will show the following:

• Integration of IBM Quickr and SharePoint libraries, allowing quick access from an Eclipse or Visual Studio IDE.

• Integration of Quickr and SharePoint document management workflows.

• Integration with Microsoft Office applications.

• Exposure of Jazz metrics and dashboards on the IBM Websphere Portal, Quickr and SharePoint.