IBM and Lotus will compete head-on with Netscape and Novell in an attempt to dominate the groupware and intranet solution market.

IBM and Lotus announced plans for a 'software roadmap' under the 'Network Computing Framework for e-business' banner at today's Intranet Expo '97 at Olympia, London, that promises to remove any proprietary ties between clients and servers while positioning itself in direct competition with Netscape's Communicator and Networked Enterprise strategy.

IBM and Lotus revealed its intranet software strategy while announcing a number of Web server and developer products. Uffe Sorensen, IBM's manager of enterprise solutions said IBM and Netscape will compete and collaborate where necessary and IBM and Lotus were looking at consolidating products to address the network computing issue. However, Sorensen would not elaborate on whether or not certain aspects of IBM's current Web software strategy, such as Commerce.Net would be swallowed up by Lotus' e-business and e-commerce software.

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