IBM Lotus Expeditor is a
software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...
by
IBM's
Lotus Software
Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was "offloaded" to India's HCL Technologies in 2018.
Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2- ...
division for the construction, integration, and deployment of "managed client applications", which are
client
Client(s) or The Client may refer to:
* Client (business)
* Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer
* Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...
applications that are deployed from, configured, and managed onto a desktop, usually by a remote
server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
. The goal is to allow developers to create applications that take advantage of running on a local client, while having the same ease of maintenance as web-based applications.
Description
There are several parts to Expeditor:
* ''Lotus Expeditor Client for Desktop'' is used for the running client applications on
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
and
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
. These applications can be written using a combination of
OSGi
OSGi is an open specification and open source project under the Eclipse Foundation. It is a continuation of the work done by the OSGi Alliance (formerly known as the Open Services Gateway initiative), which was an open standards organization for ...
,
Java EE
Jakarta EE, formerly Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), is a set of specifications, extending Java SE with specifications for enterprise features such as distributed computing and web serv ...
, and
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...
Rich Client Platform The rich client platform (RCP) is a programmer tool that makes it easier to integrate independent software components, where most of the data processing occurs on the client side.
Overview
RCP is a software consisting of the following components ...
(RCP) technologies, running on a Java virtual machine.
* ''Lotus Expeditor Client for Devices'' is a configuration of platform for Microsoft
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
devices and the
Nokia E90 Communicator
Nokia E90 Communicator was a high-end 3G smartphone from Nokia, the fifth generation Communicator, and also part of the Eseries. It was announced on 11 February 2007 at the 3GSM show in Barcelona. It succeeded the Nokia 9500 Communicator as ...
. This configuration of the platform includes the Eclipse embedded Rich Client Platform (eRCP) running on a
Java ME
Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...
virtual machine.
* ''Lotus Expeditor Server'' is used to deploy, configure and maintain applications running on Lotus Expeditor Clients. It runs on top of the
IBM DB2
Db2 is a family of data management products, including database servers, developed by IBM. It initially supported the relational model, but was extended to support object–relational features and non-relational structures like JSON a ...
database management system
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases span ...
and the
Java EE
Jakarta EE, formerly Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), is a set of specifications, extending Java SE with specifications for enterprise features such as distributed computing and web serv ...
-based
IBM WebSphere Application Server
WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is a software product that performs the role of a web application server. More specifically, it is a software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, ...
. Expeditor Server is not necessary for Expeditor Client applications to run. Client applications can run standalone, and optionally exploit the services of the Lotus Expeditor Server for data synchronization, transactional messaging and automated, remote, application management.
In addition, Lotus Expeditor Toolkit is for developers to create Expeditor applications and create customized Expeditor runtimes. It runs on top of the Eclipse
integrated development environment
An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source code editor, build automation tools a ...
.
Lotus Software uses Expeditor in many of its own products, including
Notes
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* Notes (album), ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) sho ...
(from version 8),
Sametime (from version 7.5), and
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
.
History
Lotus Expeditor has its roots in IBM's Pervasive Computing (PvC) initiatives. which were associated with the pursuit of
ubiquitous computing
Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using a ...
. Early forms of Lotus Expeditor were first outlined publicly in 2001 in an article on IBM's Pervasive Computing Device Architecture. This architecture served as the basis for IBM PvC embedded software deliveries in many areas, including automotive telematics, industrial control, residential gateways, desktop screenphones, and handheld mobile devices.
In 2003, the core of the PvC Device Architecture, the OSGi Service Platform, was used in a refactoring of the Eclipse runtime to incubate what became Eclipse 3.0. This incubator project was referred to as
Equinox
A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...
. Eclipse 3.0 was released in 2004 as a refactored runtime (Rich Client Platform or RCP) and an integrated development environment (IDE) that exploited RCP.
Later in 2004, IBM announced Workplace Client Technology (WCT) for creating managed client applications targeted at desktops. WCT was an application of the PvC Device Architecture to desktops, which then included the RCP technologies. WCT also came with document editors that could read word processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in
OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
format.
Later that year, IBM rebranded the PvC Device Architecture as a platform called Workplace Client Technology, Micro Edition (WCTME). IBM took the existing Workplace Client Technology and renamed it Workplace Client Technology, Rich Client Edition (later Rich Edition or WCTRE).
IBM created a configuration of the WCTME platform, called Workplace Client Technology, Micro Edition—Enterprise Offering (WCTME-EO), as the first generally available product to support the construction and deployment of desktop applications for Workplace. WCT Micro Edition—Enterprise Offering had a smaller footprint than WCT Rich Edition by focusing only on the integration of line-of-business applications and, correspondingly, not including the document editors.
The names of the technologies continued to evolve in the next couple of years.
*WCT Rich Edition became known as the Workplace Managed Client.
*WCT Micro Edition—Enterprise Offering was briefly renamed Workplace Managed Client for WebSphere before it was released as WebSphere Everyplace Deployment for Windows and Linux. (''WebSphere Everyplace Deployment'' referred to both client and server technologies.)
In 2006, IBM started to de-emphasize the Workplace brand in favor of its existing Lotus and
WebSphere
IBM WebSphere refers to a brand of proprietary computer software products in the genre of enterprise software known as "application and integration middleware". These software products are used by end-users to create and integrate applications wi ...
brands. As part of this effort, it created the Expeditor brand within Lotus:
[ tp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/lotus/lotusweb/product/expeditor/datasheet.pdf Lotus Expeditor 6.1 Data Sheet IBM, 2007. Accessed 2007-09-26.]
*WebSphere Everyplace Deployment became Lotus Expeditor.
*In particular, WebSphere Everyplace Deployment for Windows and Linux became Lotus Expeditor Client for Desktop.
*Workplace Client Technology, Micro Edition became Lotus Expeditor Client for Devices.
*The server components from WebSphere Everyplace Deployment products that dealt with managing desktop and mobile applications became Lotus Expeditor Server.
*Some of the technology in Workplace Managed Client, such as its document editors, were incorporated into Lotus Notes 8 and Lotus Symphony.
See also
*
IBM Service Management Framework
The Service Management Framework (SMF) is a software product by IBM which implements the OSGi Service Platform.
It is available as a component of other IBM products, including IBM Lotus Expeditor, a platform enabling OSGi developers to build co ...
References
External links
IBM Lotus Expeditor product page
{{Lotus Software
Expeditor An expeditor is someone who facilitates a process. It is a position or role found within project management, construction, purchasing, production control, and restaurants. One example of this is a person in a restaurant who coordinates actions betw ...
Linux programming tools
Programming tools for Windows