IBM is slowly entering the fight with big players over the control of the next wave of office software. The “Big Blue” will soon compete with the likes of Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Google in the cloud computing space.

IBM has opened up the beta for Bluehouse, the company’s so-called Facebook for businesses.

The program has been available in closed beta since January when IBM presented it at its annual Lotusphere gala. Now the company plans to make it available to everyone in the upcoming weeks. The Armonk, New York-based multinational said its new program combines social networking and online collaboration in order to make it easier for enterprises to share documents, host online meetings and other similar tools that make the lives of companies easier.

The initial message IBM wished to send regarding its Bluehouse was that it would include "extranet services that make it easy for small-and-medium sized companies to securely collaborate beyond their organizational boundaries."

Bluehouse tools also include Web conferencing, instant messaging, e-mail, online teamwork areas, spots to share documents and other files and the possibility to build social networking communities through a Web browser. The instant messaging will be made from Lotus Sametime, while the Web conferences through Lotus Sametime Unyte.

The Bluehouse beta integrates technology from the Lotus Connections social networking for business software, Lotus Quickr file and document sharing application and Lotus Sametime instant messaging system.

One of the good news is that the Bluehouse SAAS beta can also be used to collaborate with users outside the internal workgroup such as partners, agencies, suppliers and customers and the level of security is the same.