My company is currently researching our next offering, and in doing so we are exploring options for our development platform. Our system will be primarily transaction based, interfacing to an iSeries machine for record updates, and will include some workflow, as well as your basic login-type security and role-based content. Wish I could go in to more, but thats where the legal fuzziness comes in.
I’ve been asked to investigate any advantages / disadvantages to building a system such as this using a Domino platform. Our other main consideration would be a Websphere / Java based approach. Being unfamiliar with the benefits/drawbacks of Domino, I figured I’d ask the Notes.net gurus for some assistance…I’m specifically looking for information regarding platform limitations, performance issues, security constraints, general costs/times of app development, etc.
I understand that many of you are big Lotus fans (otherwise you wouldn’t be here), but please try to be as objective as possible. I’m looking for the low as well as the high points. Personal experience would be extremely helpful.
Thanks!
-Tim
Subject: Domino as an Enterprise Application Platform
I think it is necessary to define transactional in the application. Are we talking 1k/day or 1k/second?
Subject: Domino as an Enterprise Application Platform
[Our system will be primarily transaction based, interfacing to an iSeries
machine for record updates, and will include some workflow, as well as your
basic login-type security and role-based content.]
In describing the system as “transaction based” you’ve already made an
assumption about your architecture that makes Domino a poor fit. However, that
doesn’t mean it’s not a good solution to your actual business problem. It just
means that if you’d like to use Domino to build your system, and get workflow,
security, fast development cycles and integrated messaging, you’ll have to
approach the solution in a fundamentally different way, because Domino doesn’t
do “transactions.”
Subject: Domino as an Enterprise Application Platform
Domino should never be used for anything that is transaction intensive. You should look at DB2/Websphere for this purpose, with Domino to handle any workflow.
E-mail me at lotushelp2003@yahoo.com and we can go into a more detailed discussion.