In a bid to simplify its Lotus product portfolio, IBM Lotus Software is poised to re-brand many of its software applications over 2003. The software division owned by IT giant IBM Corp, says that it will be making a transition to new names for many of its products over the course of 2003.

With the exception of its flagship groupware products, Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino, all Lotus products will be identified in the future by their functionality and value proposition rather than by their current Lotus-coined trade names. As an example, users can expect to see 'IBM Lotus QuickPlace' to be replaced by 'IBM Lotus Team Workplace'.

Over the years, IBM Lotus has developed a broad suite of collaborative applications designed to run as part of its core groupware platform. IBM Lotus admits that these products have not been easily recognizable. The integration of Lotus-branded portal software as part of the IBM WebSphere brand has also confused Lotus' branding even further.

The transition to the new names will be implemented in a phased roll-out over the course of the next several months.