IBM Connections Engagement Center V6.0 becomes available
by Volker Weber
At the end of May, IBM announced it had acquired an asset from Timetoact that was known as XCC and that it would become available as IBM Connections Engagement Center. This acquisition was driven by Ed Brill, Vice President Product Management and Design, IBM Collaboration Solutions, and Felix Binsack, founder and CEO of Timetoact Group. It probably helped that both have known and trusted each other for many years.
In less than two months IBM and Timetoact have completed the "bluewashing" of the asset. That means you have to touch every single line of code, vet the intellectual property, provide proper language support and turn a business partner product into an IBM product. Here is the annoucement letter, availability is in two days.
If you read the announcement letter, it may not become perfectly clear what the product does. But it's quite simple. Engagement Center augments the collaborate applications from Connections with additional modules you would find in an intranet. It completes the experience, and I believe it's a must-have for a successful Connections portal. Employees will find everything in one place.
Engagement Center is priced between 28 and 35 € per user, if you acquire a license for on premises installation. For enterprise customers, IBM likes to provide special bids.
