Microsoft Business Solutions is promoting its own CRM – Microsoft CRM. Microsoft CRM is gaining market share in the small, medium and even large business CRM market. For large enterprise customers, email serving is often done on Lotus Domino or Java/Unix platforms. Standard Microsoft CRM messaging works through Microsoft Exchange Server 2003/2000. Considering the fact that a large number of companies are committed to an alternative email server, we decided to develop the Microsoft CRM Lotus/Domino connector (first release: April 2005), which works similarly to the MS CRM Exchange connector. and it will improve compared to the standard connector. in version 2 (June 1, 2005 – expected date)

• How does it work. When you send an email from a CRM object (Lead, Contact, or Account), the connector takes over, adds GUIDs to the message header, and forwards it to Lotus Domino for delivery. The reason for such a primitive solution is simple: Microsoft wants to ensure that all email systems, implemented from the mail recipient side (Lotus, Unix, or Exchange) will maintain GUIDs in the response header (usually by adding the prefix re , like re:.. …GUID) and on the way back to MS CRM, the connector will take all messages with GUIDs in the header and try to match their GUIDs to GUID objects and add these messages to their source. To reiterate in direct words, if you send an email from a specific contact, when the recipient replies, the RE message will be attached to the contact.
• Improvements. If the email is sent from the Lotus client, the Lotus Domino server will look to see if any MS CRM contacts, accounts, or leads have the recipient’s email, and if so, attach the closed activity of the email type to this object. If the Lotus Domino server receives the message without a GUID in the header, the server will analyze if any MS CRM objects have addresses or emails, and if so, attach the closed email activity to the object.
• Technology: MS CRM Lotus Domino connector uses the Java agent on the Lotus side and web services to address MS CRM.
• Price: To be announced, will be based on Lotus or other email server licenses.

Connector has a standard core that works with MS CRM and platform dependent plugins. It will support the following email servers (check with us for availability):

1. Exchange (Win32, Win64 (on arrival))
2. Lotus Domino (Win32, AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc)
3. CommuniGate Pro (Win32, AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc and x86)
4. PostFix (AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc, and x86)
5. Exim (AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc, and x86)
6. Oracle Collaboration Suite (Win32, AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc)
7. GroupWise (Win32, Linux)

If you think you need such a product and use Lotus/Domino in your business, please feel free to call us: USA 1-866-528-0577, Deutschland (0177) 8349 806, Moscow (095) 918 3314, help @albaspectrum .com