SmartCloud Notes – End of Life! Really shutting down?

Read time 4 minutes

One of the most prominent topics in the IT industry revolves around HCL’s recent acquisition of IBM Notes and the subsequent announcement of the discontinuation of its SmartCloud Notes service.

Announcement

HCL, the new owner of IBM Notes, announced the discontinuation of the Softlayer platform, affecting services like SmartCloud Notes and Verse. This decision will result in the shutdown of these services by July 16, 2020, including SmartCloud Notes, which provides cloud-based access to emails and calendars.

HCL’s announcement allows existing users a window of time to purchase licenses for cloud offerings like SmartCloud Notes and make necessary plans. However, it also signals the need for users to explore alternative cloud platforms, consider on-premises deployments, or evaluate third-party hosting services for their Notes data storage.

To provide more clarity and precision, we have outlined HCL’s recommendations following the discontinuation of SmartCloud Notes.

• Try HCL Cloud (which is yet to become a reality) – Provides SaaS with platform flexibility and latest technologies
• Try Private Cloud – Use on-premises deployments for IBM Notes or use private cloud
• Switch to Partner-Led Cloud-Hosting – Try HCL partner-led Clouds

Based on discussions, user comments, and queries related to HCL’s decision, it’s evident that IBM Notes users are surprised and curious about this sudden move. Many are not convinced about the reasons behind the closure or the alternative options proposed by HCL. Some users, however, are accepting of the decision as they had already been planning to migrate their data from Notes to more efficient and beneficial cloud services like Office 365.

Don’t worry if HCL hasn’t provided a suitable replacement for the discontinued cloud services. You can consider migrating to Office 365, Microsoft’s equivalent cloud platform, from your SmartCloud Notes. It’s an excellent alternative for storing and accessing Notes data online from any location, similar to what you were doing with SmartCloud Notes.

Check out the amazing benefits of the Office 365 cloud platform over the SmartCloud Notes application.

• Content management service for set up and management of online communities
• Integrated Skype for Business application for quick and efficient communication (video conferencing, messaging)
• Integrated OneDrive application for cloud data storage with the facility of synchronization with the local system
• Enterprise-grade data security and reliability
• Web content creation and collaboration with integrated SharePoint Online application
• High-end support to mobile devices
• Automatic updates and troubleshooting
• Low licensing costs as subscription includes everything
• IT control and management with the administrators
• Office 365 includes a robust Advanced Threat Analytics for quick threat mitigation.
• Two-factor authentication for login security.
• Office 365 is saved on Azure cloud removing the requirement for on-premises infrastructure.
• Great availability and durability of cloud data.

To perform this SmartCloud Notes to Office 365 migration, we suggest you can rely entirely on the best third-party migrator tool – Kernel Office 365 Migrator for Lotus Notes.

The tool efficiently migrates all IBM Notes data to the cloud, specifically Office 365. It’s user-friendly, allowing even non-technical users to specify what to migrate. This secure and comprehensive migration solution supports all IBM Notes versions and Office 365 plans. It also includes a dedicated feature for migrating SmartCloud Notes mailboxes to Office 365, complete with automatic search capabilities for SmartCloud Notes mailboxes.

• Migration of local, Domino Server and SmartCloud Notes NSF files to Office 365 cloud
• Automatic server authentication for Domino Server and SmartCloud Notes in network
• Facility to migrate to single/multiple Office 365 mailboxes
• Migration to individual Office 365 mailbox, archive mailbox, public folder, or group
• Provision to assign impersonation rights to mailboxes
• Automated source and destination mailboxes mapping
• Multiple filter options like folders, categories, date, etc. for chosen data migration

Conclusion

In conclusion, the impending shutdown of SmartCloud Notes doesn’t signify the ‘End of Life’ for your data. Rather, it’s an opportunity to migrate to more secure platforms like Office 365. To ensure a seamless and efficient migration, it’s advisable to opt for a reliable solution like Kernel Office 365 Migrator for Lotus Notes. With this tool, you can effortlessly migrate your SmartCloud Notes data and enjoy peace of mind.