IBM ties social networking into cloud platform

LotusLive Connections is designed to help enterprises interact internally and externally

IBM has unveiled a new service for its LotusLive online service platform designed to match the company's current online communications services with new social networking components.

LotusLive Connections will help enterprises to interact internally and externally to better collaborate with individuals and companies on projects.

Users can access the service to collaborate on projects and share information on upcoming activities. The service will also offer instant messaging and file sharing capabilities.

"IBM is an established leader in two major trends: cloud computing and social networking for business," said Bob Picciano, general manager for IBM Lotus software.

"LotusLive Connections gives companies of all sizes the ability to build and share information, and easily work with their extended business network over the web."

LotusLive was unveiled in January and aims to compete with online productivity and collaboration suites such as Google Apps, as well as traditional software offerings from rivals such as Microsoft.

Lotus Live Connections will launch on 30 June.