02/02/2001
IT Factory and ZixIt Corporation have teamed up to provide Notes users with the ability to send and read encrypted messages. IT Factory, a developer of collaborative e-business solutions on the Notes/Domino environment, will port ZixIt's e-mail security products, ZixMail and SecureDelivery, to the Lotus platform. The plug-ins will let Notes users send encrypted messages across the Internet with the click of a button. People who receive encrypted messages but don't have the ZixIt plug-in will receive an e-mail letting them know they have a secure e-mail on a ZixIt server and need to retrieve it. IT Factory expects the products will be available in April. Besides porting the products to the Notes environment, the Lotus Business Partner also will market and sell them.

Security is a new venture for IT Factory, which builds application development tools, collaborative applications, and Microsoft-to-Lotus integration technology. "It's all about enabling Notes users to be more productive," says Gordon Darling, vice president of corporate communications at IT Factory. "(The plug-ins) fit into our product line by essentially making the platform a more robust platform for collaborative applications. They'll let users exchange sensitive data." Jeff Papows, the former president and CEO of Lotus who sits on the boards of both ZixIt and IT Factory, brought the two companies together.