Monash University has selected IBM Lotus software to improve collaboration for its 60,000 staff, students and researchers around the world.

Monash University required a comprehensive solution that reflected its desire to use information technology to support new ways of collaborating could be integrated with existing records and document management systems, and run across a variety of operating systems and supported mobile devices.

Based on an integrated combination of IBM Lotus Notes and Domino, IBM Lotus Sametime and IBM Lotus QuickPlace, the Lotus solution beat rival bids.

"We have a highly distributed environment with an integrated academic program operating in eight campuses across three countries," said Alan McMeekin, director of information technology services, Monash University. "The strong collaboration capabilities of Lotus QuickPlace and Lotus Sametime, which are securely integrated with the Lotus Notes and Domino messaging environment, will help us improve the work practices and achievements of staff, researchers and students.

"Our researchers use a variety of computing platforms and operating systems. All the systems we looked at had robust messaging and calendar capabilities. However, the Lotus solution was the only one that could provide the same high level of collaboration functionality across Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows systems as well as a variety of web browsers."

With the IBM solution, students, faculty and researchers will be able to work together on documents through Web conferences, team rooms and instant messaging. Collaboration across geographical barriers will be enhanced with email and instant messaging that can be integrated into existing activities or applications. In addition, mobile device such as handheld PCs and smart phones, will be enabled with email and instant messaging capabilities, enabling collaboration to take place anytime, anywhere.

IBM offered a one-stop shop for software and implementation services that minimized the time and resources Monash would need to spend managing the implementation and software licensing processes.

Monash University is an internationally recognized university with a long-established tradition of providing excellence in education. It is highly regarded for its innovative approach to teaching, research and learning and its graduates are sought after by employers from Australia and overseas.

The university is home to 75 research centers and is involved with 17 cooperative research centers. The Monash community includes more than 52,000 students from over 100 countries and more than 6,000 full-time staff. Monash has six campuses in Australia, one in Malaysia and one in South Africa, as well as centers in London, United Kingdom and Prato, Italy.