Do i need EOP licnese for hybrid exchangeonline with lotus notes?

Question

hi guys, hope you are doing well
just want to ask you a quick question
One of my clients is using Lotus notes in their environment and now they are interested in the migration of some of their mailboxes to office 365 and some will remain on lotus notes. So here I have 2 questions
1- Can Office 365 mail flow connectors use for inbound and outbound traffic of emails from and to lotus notes? because I have read that if I point my MX record to office 365 only so if the user will not on office 365, the email will redirect towards lotus notes through office 365 mail flow connectors and vice versa with lotus notes towards office 365 and then to other organization. is it true?
2- Do I need an Exchange Online Protection license for the on-premises email users (lotus notes)? reference of any link would be very helpful.

Answer 1

1. You can create connectors, yes, but they would not be considered "Hybrid"

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow-best-practices/use-connectors-to-configure-mail-flow/set-up-connectors-to-route-mail

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow-best-practices/use-connectors-to-configure-mail-flow/use-connectors-to-configure-mail-flow

1. Yes, you need EOP licenses if mail is going through 365 - even for stand-alone mailboxes in Lotus. on-premises.
   You will need to ask your licensing representative when you purchase your licenses to confirm

https://learn.microsoft.com/it-it/exchange/transport-routing#route-incoming-internet-messages-through-the-exchange-online-organization