In the coming months, IBM plans to boost iSeries sales through comarketing campaigns it is launching with dozens of iSeries software vendors. These campaigns are part of a broader IBM initiative to forge partnerships with mid-market software vendors, including those who develop for non-IBM platforms.

As I explained in my article two weeks ago, IBM's iSeries sales team in the Americas is spearheading a campaign to reconnect with its customers through telephone calls and face-to-face meetings. As part of that campaign, the iSeries Americas team is talking to approximately 100 independent software vendors (ISVs) about comarketing their iSeries solutions. Just as importantly, the Americas sales team is putting its money where its mouth is by designating one-third of its demand-generation budget for ISV comarketing. These funds are underwriting a combination of telephone calls and mailings to iSeries customers and prospects.

Before you start wondering whether you're going to get barraged with sales calls about ISV products, there's something you should know about IBM's marketing strategy. Over the last decade, IBM has been building detailed databases about its customers and prospects. These databases include nearly all publicly available information about every enterprise and mid-market company in the world. To this data, IBM adds all the information it gathers from these companies through telephone calls, mailings, and other communications. While IBM's database is far from perfect, it gives the computer giant a very good idea of what software you might need and who within your organization might need it. This allows IBM to target its sales calls at the right people rather than carpet bomb customers with unwanted solicitations. It also makes IBM an attractive comarketing partner for ISVs who are seeking qualified buyers for their solutions.

According to my IBM sources, the ISV comarketing campaign is already attracting software vendors and gathering momentum. During this quarter, for instance, the iSeries Americas team is running campaigns with approximately 30 ISVs. These include well-known vendors such as Vision Solutions, SSA, and Jack Henry. However, they also include less-known names such as Serti Informatique and Aptis. Many of these vendors are smaller firms that focus on specific regions or industries. Indeed, the iSeries Americas team is focusing much of its comarketing attention on such second- and third-tier ISVs because they are frequently the solution providers of choice among mid-market organizations.

IBM's Mid-Market Campaign: The Bigger Picture

The iSeries drive to partner with smaller ISVs is part of a broader effort by IBM's Systems Group and Software Group to recruit software vendors that serve mid-size companies. Both divisions are courting mid-market ISVs not only through comarketing campaigns, but also through programs that underwrite the migration of ISV software to IBM hardware and middleware. On the Systems Group front, the pSeries organization is working to get mid-market ISVs to port to the POWER processor platform. In many cases, the pSeries team is encouraging ISVs to migrate to the growing body of IBM middleware that runs in Linux partitions on both the pSeries and iSeries.

At the same time, IBM's Software Group is wooing smaller ISVs through its own initiatives. One key initiative is the Express line of IBM middleware products, which includes Express versions of WebSphere Application Server (WAS), DB2, and Domino. IBM is recruiting mid-market ISVs to base their applications on these products because they cost less and are simpler to deploy than standard versions. Another key initiative is Value Advantage Plus, a program that IBM's Software Group will officially launch next month. Under the program, companies that sell ISV solutions that run on IBM middleware will receive a 30% discount on the middleware. By making it more profitable for solutions providers to sell applications that run on its middleware, IBM hopes to recruit more mid-market ISVs as well as the firms that sell their products.

As these initiatives indicate, IBM's Systems and Software Groups are uniting around a drive to get smaller ISVs to embrace the iSeries, pSeries, and xSeries servers by writing their applications to IBM middleware running on Linux and Windows. That puts Big Blue on a collision course with Microsoft, which recently launched a campaign known as Empower to get the same ISVs to port to its .NET middleware and development tools.

As a result, the battle to determine which software platform the mid-market will choose--one based largely on Java and Linux versus another based on .NET and Windows--is about to begin in earnest. If you're an in-house developer in a mid-size company, this conflict may not immediately affect you, as the heaviest fighting will take place over ISVs and software resellers. As your software providers choose sides, however, their choices will inevitably force your organization to make its own decision. With this in mind, I would encourage you to stay in touch with your primary solution providers over the coming months. The sooner you know their platform choices, the more time you'll have to develop your own strategy.

Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..