The Sametime V11.5 release on August 5th has been postponed. So we still have to wait until November to get video conferencing. But there is still some hope.
Today it was made public that the planned launch of Sametime V11.5 has been postponed. Here is the message that the HCL Ambassadors and certain Business Partners we have been in contact with received today:
HCL was prepared to eGA HCL Sametime v11.5 on July 9 with a significant marketing and sales launch on August 5.
This planned launch was a testament to the hard work across the HCL organization, especially the development team. Precisely, to deliver a critical release that helps our customers own their meeting and data, get off runaway SaaS pricing, and start our journey towards reimagining the digital office of the future.
As with any dynamic market, and in time of COVID, HCL must be ready to react quickly to what our customer’s need.
Because of this, HCL has decided to hold the official eGA and marketing launch until November 10th to add essential functionality.
But then it gets interesting:
However, between August and November, and to meet the incredible demand from our BPs and Customers, Sales will enable all existing HCL customers (and BPs) to obtain a no-charge Sametime v11.5 license that’s valid until the end of November. Come November; they can elect to stop using it with no penalty or purchase a full license.
Why are we doing this? We believe this strategy will continue to build excitement about the Sametime release in November, present an opportunity for our customers to experience Sametime, and provide vital product feedback.
We can get into the specifics on the incremental functionality we plan to add for the eGA in another post.
What exactly this means is currently unknown. But it seems that if you contact your Business Partner in August, you will be able to get Sametime V11.5 as a full version, but there will be even more functionality and support for Firefox in the November release.
More details will be published here as we get them.