Toshiba Replaces Lotus Notes with Exchange Server 2010 and SharePoint

Almost everyone knows the Toshiba brand, but you might not know that they recently switched from Lotus Notes to Exchange and SharePoint.   Toshiba has 130,000 employees worldwide and is a global leader in electronics manufacturing.  Their story is very typical of large, global companies that have switched from Lotus Notes to Microsoft.

Toshiba had used Lotus Notes for 15 years.  There were 48,000 databases in Lotus Notes.  But because of increasing licensing, hardware, development, operations and maintenance costs, it became difficult to expand the use of Lotus Notes to the entire Toshiba group, which was growing globally.  Toshiba’s customers and partners all used Office products, so it was natural to look to Microsoft when evaluating an update to their communications and collaboration infrastructure.  Toshiba decided to go with Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync Server.

Just a little over a year after the project began, and now Exchange Server 2010 handles over 2.8 million email messages a day for the entire Toshiba group.  SharePoint Servers manage 20 terabytes of data for collaboration.  Toshiba has also deployed Lync Server for presence and instant messaging.

And their savings?  Toshiba calculates that they will save an amazing $63 million over 4 years.  And their users have never been happier.

“This system is much more user-friendly than the previous groupware environment. We are using products, such as Exchange Server, that are used by large numbers of users around the world, and there are no complaints with the tools.”  Masao Namiki, Director, Corporate Senior Executive Vice-President, Strategic Planning & Communications Group at Toshiba

With even the largest Notes customers switching over to Microsoft Office, Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync, it makes you wonder about the viability of the Notes franchise.

Julia White

Senior Director, Exchange Product Management