IBM announced availability of new releases of its core IBM Workplace products, including Workplace Collaboration Services 2.6, Workplace Managed Client 2.6, Workplace Forms 2.6, and Workplace Designer 2.6. The 2.6 versions of these products include more than 50 new features and functions, including enhancements to cross-platform and open standards support. IBM Workplace Collaboration Services is a single, integrated product that includes a wide range of collaborative capabilities or “services,” such as e-mail, calendaring, team spaces, instant messaging, on-line learning, Web conferencing, document, and Web content management. The 2.6 release includes user interface enhancements across all components, an enhanced document search engine, support for ODF, iCal support for calendar interoperability with IBM Lotus Notes, and a new instant messaging gateway to Lotus Sametime, which will connect communities of users between IBM Lotus Sametime and Workplace Collaboration Services. Additions to Workplace Collaboration Services cross-platform support include clustering for iSeries, DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V8.2 as a data store, and IBM Directory Integrator V6.0. Release 2.6 also provides increased scalability and performance. IBM Workplace Forms is new electronic forms (e-forms) software that can help companies streamline and customize the way business data is captured, processed, and exchanged. IBM Workplace Collaboration Services 2.6, IBM Workplace Managed Client 2.6, IBM Workplace Designer 2.6 are available immediately. IBM Workplace Collaboration Services server sells for $90,000 per processor. IBM Workplace Managed Client is $69 per user. IBM Workplace Forms 2.6 will ship in the second quarter of 2006: The IBM Workplace Forms Server will be $25,000, IBM Workplace Forms Viewer will be $188, and IBM Workplace Forms Designer will be $649. http://www.ibm.com