Evolution from IBM Lotus Notes to HCL Notes – A Complete Release History

Ritu Roy | email migration Featured Software Technology | 5 minutes read | Last updated on February 8th, 2023,
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A complete blog post on the evolution from IBM Lotus Notes to HCL Notes and its journey start to HCL Notes. We have explained all IBM Notes editions since its release almost 30 years ago.

HCL Notes, generally known as IBM Notes and Lotus Notes, is a desktop client application used by all professional experts and organizations for email and calendaring solutions. It needs HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) server, which gives business collaboration tools to make microblogging websites, share files, instant messaging, voice or video calls/conferencing, discussion groups, business workflow, etc.

In addition, to Domino Server, one can also add and configure a non-domino IMAP or POP email account in HCL Notes or IBM Lotus Notes application. To save the mailbox database, such as emails, contacts, appointments, documents, attachments, etc. HCL Notes or IBM Notes uses the Notes Storage Facility (NSF) database file format. 

A Whole History of IBM Notes to HCL Notes

In the year 1989, Lotus Notes Development Corporation developed the Lotus Notes desktop email application. IBM Notes purchased Lotus Notes in 1995 and has introduced IBM’s new division as Lotus Notes devolvement

In December 2018, IBM announced to sell its Lotus Notes acquisition to an India-based firm, HCL. In July 2019 formally acquired the IBM Lotus Notes.

Initial Days and Development

Mitch Kapor and Ray Ozzi Lotus Development corporations’ chief technical officers originally designed lotus Notes in the late 1980s. Its early release, Lotus Notes 1.0, came out in 1989.

At a time when e-mail become s in its infancy, Lotus Notes was programmed as a modern utility that might permit customers to send and receive messages and collaborate on initiatives with others. To acquire this, it contained features inclusive of help for threaded conversations and the capacity to track modifications made to documents.

Lotus Notes 2.0, 3.0 & 4.0 Releases

Lotus Notes 2.0 turned into launched in 1991. It turned into completely new software, which turned exclusive from anything that was available at that time. The user interface turned into primarily based totally on a pocket book metaphor and contained many features including email, calendaring, and task management.

Lotus Notes 3.0 got here in 1993, and it protected some enhancements over the previous version. The most important improvement changed into the inclusion of support for groupware applications. This made Lotus Notes one of the first applications to provide this kind of functionality.

Lotus Notes 4.0 was launched in 1996, and it represented a main overhaul of the software. The user interface turned into absolutely redesigned, and it introduced many new facilities consisting of document libraries and discussion forums.

Lotus Notes 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 Release

1999 was the year when Lotus Notes 5.0 was launched. This changed into a large launch that noticed many new functions being brought to the software. One of the maximum amazing additions was introduced of the Domino Web Server. This allowed customers to get the right of entry to their mailboxes via an internet browser, making it much simpler to apply Lotus Notes from everywhere in the world. In addition, Lotus Notes 5.0 also saw the introduction of XML support, which paved the manner for future upgrades to the software.

In 2002, Lotus Notes 6.0 was launched. This model of the software added some of huge improvements, consisting of a higher guide for Microsoft Outlook and better protection features. Lotus Notes 6.0 become additionally the primary version of the software to be completely supported on Windows XP.

In 2005, Lotus Notes 7.0 was released. This major update delivered a range of the latest functions and made vast changes to the user interface. The biggest change in Lotus Notes 7.0 was support for server-based applications, which allowed businesses to develop and set up custom applications on top of their present infrastructure. Lotus Notes 7.0 additionally noticed the creation of Sametime, which supplied immediately messaging and VoIP abilities in the software.

Lotus Notes 8.0, 9.0 & 10.0 Releases

In 2007, Lotus Notes launched version 8.0 which contained a lot of new advanced functions and enhancements designed to develop productivity and collaboration. Beneficial functions contained a new interface, support for MS Office documents, and enhanced email and calendaring capability.

The IBM Lotus Notes 9.0 version was launched in 2013 and featured extra capability which includes social networking integration and web-primarily based totally document editing. There had been advantageous evaluations for Lotus Notes 9.0 from users, however, a few criticized the brand new interface for being too tough to use.

In 2018, IBM offered the Lotus Notes software program to the Indian enterprise HCL Technologies. HCL launched the primary model of the software under its new name, HCL Notes, in 2019. The latest edition of HCL Notes includes of some significant improvements, along with assist for Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots. HCL plans to maintain growing and enhancing the software program withinside the future.

The Year 2019 – Lotus Notes Rebranded to HCL Notes v11.0

In 2019, we see IBM Notes was rebranded as HCL Notes v11.0. The new updated edition & name comes up with a major amazing functions & features, which contains numerous upgrades and enhancements, such as extended protection functions and help for the today’s variations of Windows and macOS. HCL Notes v11.0 additionally consists of a number of new functions, which include document collaboration and team rooms.

Although the software has been renamed, it still keeps the core functionality, making it a famous desire for companies and individual users. With its new capabilities and enhancements, HCL Notes v11.0 is an excellent extra effective program for collaboration and communication.

The year 2021 – HCL Notes v12.0 Released (The Present Version)

The Present HCL Notes v12.0 supports IBM Domino 12 server, and IBM Notes 12 client. This new launch includes all of the new capabilities and features of these products. In addition, it includes the latest in the line of value-add functions for each on-premises and cloud computing environment.

Final Words

Therefore, that is a complete history of IBM Lotus Notes and HCL Notes. If your companies makes use of HCL Notes or IBM Lotus Notes and HCL Domino or IBM Domino server for email, calendaring, and collaboration and desire to transfer to Microsoft Exchange or Office 365, we suggested the use CubexSoft NSF to PST Converter tool. The program can convert the NSF files to Outlook PST format, which you can import to Exchange or Office 365 user profiles through Outlook import/export wizard. You may also export the mail data from NSF files at once to Office 365.