Back in January, IBM announced that it was partnering with LinkedIn to create a plug-in that would integrate the social network into Lotus Notes.  As reported by TechCrunch, the new plug-in will be used to display relevant information about people in your emails, as well as providing a simple way to look through LinkedIn’s features.  It should be mentioned that you will still need to look them up and click on their names, but an automatic lookup is planned for a future release.

The two companies have also announced a LinkedIn integration into Lotus Connections, as well as an option to launch a Bluehouse web conference directly from someone’s LinkedIn profile.  However, there is no set date for their release. 

As for the LinkedIn plug-in for Lotus Notes, IBM revealed in January that it would be released some time this year.  There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, though, as it was just released to employees at IBM.