From 1st of July 2019 the deal between IBM and HCL is a real thing.

The IBM announcement is self explanatory:

"On December 6, 2018, IBM and HCL Technologies (“HCL”) announced a definitive agreement under which HCL will acquire the select IBM software products listed above (collectively, the “Collaboration, Commerce, Digital Experience, AppScan, and BigFix Solutions”). IBM and HCL have reached a definitive agreement to finalize the transaction on June 30, 2019. A list of Part Numbers included in this transaction can be found here."

What does it mean for IBM Collaboration portfolio (formerly IBM Lotus)?

HCL is an IP partner for IBM Collaboration solutions for many years. HCL's recent investments in the modernisation of the platform are astonishing and in many areas exceed what IBM has done in years. HCL considers Notes & Domino, Sametime and Portal as strategic products for their company future. Therefore we believe that we are at the beginning of an entirely new age in collaboration and digital experience solutions.

What does it mean for our customers?

The transition of IBM Collaboration solutions to HCL will have no impact on our current customers. As a service and technology provider, we have already established our partnership with HCL and we will continue to provide the best service as usual. All active maintenance contracts are not impacted by the transition and we are fully able to provide service upon all kind of requests. 

We will continue marketing and support of the future releases and new products, which we expect HCL to start shipping later this year.