In a move that spells out just how hot software as a service has become, IBM will soon offer a hosted version of Lotus Notes.
Speaking by phone after delivering a keynote on Web 2.0 computing at Interop Sept. 17, Bob Picciano, general manager of IBM Lotus software and WebSphere Portal, told me the hosted version of notes is geared toward companies of 1,000 to 10,000 employees and could cost between $8 and $18 per user, per month.

"This will have very aggressive pricing per seat for organizations small and large," said Picciano, who declined to provide additional details of the product beyond that IBM will have more to say in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Such an offering would make IBM's traditionally on-premise collaboration applications, such as Lotus Sametime instant messaging and VOIP, a threat to Microsoft Exchange Online, not to mention a number of small, independent SAAS collaboration providers that want to cater to large customer bases.

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