IBM Connections comes to mobile devices

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is continuing to evolve its old Lotus Connections platform, announcing this week that it has crafted a mobile application gateway to the platform for corporate enterprise users of Apple's (Nasdaq:AAPL) iOS, Research in Motion's (Nasdaq:RIMM) BlackBerry and Google's (Nasdaq:GOOG) Android mobile devices.

The platform, now called IBM Connections, provides social networking-style access to employee status updates, wikis and other resources, so that it can be used in conjunction with unified communications tools and other collaboration applications. The new mobile apps are free from their respective device app stores.

VentureBeat says the apps take advantage of each mobile device system's unique advantages, with the Apple version enabling partial data wipes of the device to protect sensitive corporate information, the BlackBerry version allowing users to participate in online meetings and the Android version featuring click-to-call integration with the device's calendar. IBM also reportedly is working on cloud-based meeting support with LotusLive Meetings.

IBM's mobile play for Connections comes shortly after Forrester Research named Big Blue as one of the leaders in the enterprise social networking platform market, acknowledgment that might surprise observers who would expect only new names at the top of that upstart segment of the enterprise communications market.

For more:
-see this VentureBeat story on the new apps
-read this InformationWeek post on IBM Connections

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