Poor old Domino Designer. It has received a lot of flak, and let’s face it: It’s very, very dated and not something you want for 2020. HCL now seems to have come up with it’s successor: Volt MX!
First of all: Don’t let the Volt part of Volt MX fool you into thinking that this has anything to do with Domino Volt. HCL will be using the term Volt for all their low code products, and Volt MX is something else entirely.
So what is Volt MX? The MX part means “multi user experience.” Let’s say you have an old Notes/Domino application with a lot of business logic in the back end. With the help of Volt MX, you will have the ability to build a front end user interface for that will work on Android, iOS and the web. But you will have to build it only once, not once for each platform. It will also make it easy for you to integrate your Domino application with other platforms, systems and solutions. And you can also use AI frameworks to create smart apps and really utilize your data in a new way.
In short: It sounds just like the medicine Domino developers have been wanting for the last decade or so.
Want to know more?
- HCL recently had a webinar where they not only talked about Volt MX, they also did a demo where they transformed a native Notes app into something eyeopening. Check out the webinar here
- Sign up for HCL Digital Week 2020 where they will give you even more details and demos about Volt MX, in addition to all other news about Notes, Domino, Domino Volt, Connections, Sametime, Nomad and more
- Andrew Manby from HCL has a nice blog posting about Volt MX
- You can also check out HCL’s product page
- And you can even schedule a demo
What do you think of this new product? Is it a game changer? Is it what those who are sick and tired of no development of Domino Designer (which will still be around for Domino V12) have been waiting for? Let us know!
At the webminar with Richard Jeffs and Jason Gary, there is a question near the end on whether we can use the Volt MX designer as an alternative to Domino Designer and Richard answered that HCL have no plan of going that route. Therefore I see Volt MX as the extension for “modernizing” Domino application using the App Dev Pack route (Domino as a backend data repository).
While I agree that the approach make sense, personally I do not like this approach because it does not really apply to our clients. Only a handfull of company here have a mature source control and javascript environment to be able to effectively use App Dev Pack.
Interesting. I really hope they can clear up the differences between Designer, Volt MX and the App Dev Pack, and their roadmap for all three. Thanks for your comment
@Tinus – please check out the Digital Week session about the Volt MX roadmap. It makes it clear what our strategy is for the Volt Iris IDE and Domino
https://www.hclambassadors.com/volt-apps/secure/org/app/f0a15329-6a50-44ee-9d01-9dfcdd502716/launch/index.html?form=F_NewForm1