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Communicating with IBMers and Lotus professionals using Sametime


You can communicate with IBMers and Lotus professionals using Lotus Sametime. Chris Pepin had published the instructions how to do that long ago. However there is more than this one option.
Update: Thanks for all the comments. I've reformatted and updated the blog post accordingly.
  • IBM External Sametime Server: You need to have an IBM id, to get one register online. Once you have it, create a (new) community in your Sametime client (see below). Thereafter lookup your IBMer to add him/her to your buddy list.
    • Server/Port: extst.ibm.com / 80
    • Advantage: You can reach any IBMer using Sametime, surprise them.
    • Disadvantage: Availability is not production level
  • BleedYellow: It won't connect you to all IBMers, but to the Lotus community at large. You can register at BleedYellow, a Lotus connections site courtesy of Group Business Software (part of them formerly known as Lotus 911). Once you have your id you not only have Sametime connectivity but also access to a full Lotus connections experience. After authenticating you want to add 2 public groups to your client: "IBMers" and "YellowBleeders". The first gives you access to all IBMers who have registered on BleedYellow, the later to the whole community.
    • Server/Port: im.bleedyellow.com / 1533 or 80
    • Mobile/Web clients: stweb.bleedyellow.com / 80
    • Advantage: More than Sametime, choice of ports, larger Lotus community
    • Disadvantage: Not all IBMers are there
  • Lotus Greenhouse: is the test drive site for Lotus products. It allows to testdrive a lot of Lotus' latest software including iNotes, Traveler and Portal. You need to register.
    • Server/Port: sametime.lotus.com / 1533
    • Advantage: As Mark said: lots of IBMers there. One registration to try Lotus stuff
    • Disadvantage: Not a production level environment
  • Lotus Live: IBM's cloud offering for collaboration, Lotus Live features eMail, Activities, Files, Contacts, Meetings and IM. You need to be invited, have a trial account or be a subscriber (yes I know: the "buy now" button is missing).
    • Server/Port: im.lotuslive.com / 1533
    • Advantage: Production level environment, great for external communication (I love activities and files)
    • Disadvantage: Ultimately you need a paid account. Not too many IBMer there yet.
You might not want to use (or be able) a Sametime client to connect (your admin might have disabled the capability to add a second community). In this case you can use Pidgin IM which is an OpenSource, cross platform and multi-protocol chat client. Pidgin uses libmeanwhile an implementation of the Sametime protocol not developed by IBM. To add a Sametime account follow this steps:
Open "Manage Accounts" (Ctrl+A) and select Add...
Pidgin Multi Protocol
In in the new account dialog pick Sametime from the long list. It's quite impressive how many variations of messaging protocols are out there. Some of them are very local, e.g. QQ is mainly used in China. Pidgin account settings
The user name you use is your eMail address and the password from the Bleedyellow registration. On the server tab you specify im.bleedyellow.com as server. Then you are all set
BleedYellow server settings
As usual YMMV.

Update: Against better advice internet links rot and Chris' original blog entry is gone. So here are the steps (screenshots from the embedded Sametime 9.0, depending on your version they might look different):
  1. In your Sametime preferences, go and add a (new) server community. The preferences can be accesses using File - Preferences or using the little gear icon next to the Sametime search box
  2. Add your username/password to the screen and name (for you only) the community
  3. Enter the server name and the correct port from above in the server tab
  4. You can leave the Connection and Icon tab usually as they are. You might need to check Connection if your internal Sametime uses anything other than the default. Set it to Direct Connection
  5. In Options you specify that the community can be used for presence lookups
  6. Your new community is ready and shows up in your Sametime (sidebar) client
Waiting for your pings!

Posted by on 16 April 2010 | Comments (e) | categories: Show-N-Tell Thursday

Comments

  1. posted by Carl Tyler on Friday 16 April 2010 AD:
    Does stext.ibm.com work reliably yet? IBM hasn't managed to make it work reliably in over 4 years.
  2. posted by MarkHughes on Friday 16 April 2010 AD:
    how about lotus greenhouse

    username: email
    password: greenhouse password

    server: sametime.lotus.com

    Lots of IBM people on there Emoticon biggrin.gif
  3. posted by Nathan T. Freeman on Friday 16 April 2010 AD:
    Actually, the Bleedyellow.com environment is now operated by GROUP Business Software (www.gbs.com) not Lotus 911.

    @2 - Yes, they are.
  4. posted by Felix Binsack on Saturday 17 April 2010 AD:
    { Link }

    Hello Stephan,

    it is not "stext.ibm.com" but " "extst.ibm.com".

    As Carl said, extst never worked reliable and does not work with the Sametime 8.5. After my massive complaints to IBM upper management an update was planned to extst - 5 month ago. Nothing happened so far.

    Who said elephants can dance? Emoticon angry.gif Emoticon angry.gif
  5. posted by Chris Whisonant on Saturday 17 April 2010 AD:
    BleedYellow Sametime is available on port 80 as well (has been for a couple of years now...) :)

    To reiterate what @4 said: { Link }
  6. posted by viktoria on Tuesday 04 January 2011 AD:
    lieber stephan,
    wie ich sehe lebst du noch in singapur...wann bist du mal wieder im schwarzen riesen?
    viele gruesse,
    viktoria
  7. posted by David Barry on Monday 16 May 2011 AD:
    Actually EXTST has been fixed. Their is a bug in sametime causing problems with embedded sametime. Read my blog post about the issue.

    { Link }
  8. posted by adam lacey on Monday 16 May 2011 AD:
    re; extst.ibm.com

    I support comments 1 and 3. As an IBM partner with daily interaction with large numbers of IBMers it's frustrating this service is not reliable after all these years.

    Adam
  9. posted by Kyle Hayes on Wednesday 28 September 2011 AD:
    Can extst.ibm.com be accessed via Pidgin?
  10. posted by Mei Yan on Tuesday 19 March 2013 AD:
    Notes 9 could not login to sametime server (extst.ibm.com). is it due to the following?
    { Link }
  11. posted by Stephan Wissel on Wednesday 10 April 2013 AD:
    extst is not a love child and ND9 authorization is pending in a work queue behind higher priority tasks. Patience is required. I'm not happy either
  12. posted by Ruth on Wednesday 10 April 2013 AD:
    I'm on Notes 9 social edition now and my IBM External Sametime Server no longer works. It hasn't worked since I upgraded

    Error = " User ____ failed to log into extst.ibm.com Reason: You cannot log in to the Sametime server extst.ibm.com because the Sametime client you are using is not authorized. Contact your system administrator."

    Any ideas?
  13. posted by Ruth on Wednesday 10 April 2013 AD:
    I'm on Notes 9 social edition now and my IBM External Sametime Server no longer works. It hasn't worked since I upgraded <br /><br />Error = " User ____ failed to log into extst.ibm.com Reason: You cannot log in to the Sametime server extst.ibm.com because the Sametime client you are using is not authorized. Contact your system administrator."<br /><br />Any ideas? Emoticon huh.gif
  14. posted by Peter Rosenberg on Thursday 18 December 2014 AD:
    Hi Stephan
    Found your BLOG entry useful, as a starting point. However, I believe it could be even better
    If you added the following Connection details for the IBM SameTime connection details (they have been tested today with one of our Danish IBM reps.):
    IBM External Sametime Server: You need to have an IBM id, to get one register online. Once you have it, create a (new) community in your Sametime client (see below). Thereafter lookup your IBMer to add him/her to your buddy list.
    Server/Port: extst.ibm.com / 80
    Connection Type: Disable Default, and choose 'Direct Connection'
    Advantage: You can reach any IBMer using Sametime, surprise them.
    Disadvantage: Availability is not production level.