When IBM launched its WebSphere Express initiative earlier this month, it did more than announce some entry-level middleware products. It unveiled a far-reaching plan to get mid-market customers, software vendors, and service providers to embrace its platform for e-business solutions. That puts the computer giant on a collision course with several other platform vendors that are targeting mid-sized businesses, especially Microsoft.
While IBM has historically courted large enterprises with full-featured, complex e-business software, it has been conducting studies for over a year to determine how it could more effectively reach mid-sized companies. It has good reason to do so, as those studies show that companies with 100 to 999 employees represent a $12 billion market for e-business middleware in 2003. To reach that market, IBM is creating an Express line of products that combines low cost, ease of deployment and management, and widespread support by mid-market software vendors and IT service providers. The Express software family includes the following products.
- WebSphere Application Server (WAS) Express--As my article last week explained, WAS Express is an entry-level version of WAS Version 5 that will run on Windows, Linux on Intel servers, and the iSeries. IBM claims that WAS Express can be installed in just five clicks; it also claims that it has automated 80% of the product's administrative processes to reduce the time and expertise required to manage the software.
- WebSphere Portal Express--IBM's entry-level portal solution, which the company started shipping on October 31 of this year, comes in two versions. The standard version contains a portal framework and personalization engine that run on an integrated version of WAS. The Express Plus version also includes Lotus QuickPlace and Sametime for team collaboration over the portal. Both versions only ship on Windows 2000 at this time. Discussions are under way to port WebSphere Portal Express to OS/400 by mid-2003, though the decision to do so has not yet been made.
- WebSphere Business Connection Express Edition--This product, which is the entry-level version of the WebSphere Business Connection product line, creates a Web services gateway that supports up to 10 connections to business partners. Through the gateway and an integrated version of WAS, business partners can invoke Web services on the host system using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). The product started shipping in September and runs on the Windows 2000, AIX 5.1, and Solaris 8 operating systems.
- DB2 Express--This unannounced product, which IBM intends to ship in the first quarter of next year, will provide software vendors with an entry-level database upon which they can build preconfigured solutions. IBM is working to automate many of the administrative tasks for DB2 Express so that it requires minimal attention in small and mid-size companies. This includes a "remote database administrator" feature that will let software vendors manage the database from their help desks. IBM is preparing versions for Windows, Linux on Intel servers, AIX, and possibly Solaris.
While these solutions offer cost and ease of management advantages over their more full-featured siblings, their success will largely ride on IBM's strategy to recruit mid-market software vendors and systems integrators to the product family. Next January, IBM will unveil a Partner Express Pack that will provide these firms with all the tools they need to build applications on Express products, then sell them with IBM's help. Besides receiving porting assistance from IBM's WebSphere Innovation Centers, vendors will get landing pages on IBM's Web sites and be able to launch sales campaigns that use IBM's direct mail and telemarketing resources. Already, roughly 100 developers have signed up for an "early enablement" version of this program. Among them is Corning Data Services, an iSeries developer that is writing its ServicePort/400 solution to the iSeries version of WAS Express.
While IBM will work to recruit iSeries software vendors to the Express product line, it is focusing the bulk of its attention on Windows developers. As the above product descriptions indicate, the only operating system that IBM is currently supporting on all of its Express solutions is Windows 2000. The computer giant also intends to include tools in Express products that will help to convert Windows object components to Java. Moreover, though the Partner Express Pack is still under development, it already contains analyses that assert that license and software maintenance costs for WebSphere Express products are lower than those for comparable Microsoft products.
In short, IBM's intention is to recruit mid-market Windows developers to WebSphere while customers are still confused over Microsoft's .NET strategy and concerned about the cost of embracing that strategy. IBM will target the most popular mid-market software vendors, offer them a complete Windows-based middleware platform, and tempt them to port their products to the same middleware running on Linux. This strategy will allow IBM to gradually win over Windows developers to WebSphere and Java without asking them to give up their operating system of choice.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is developing its own initiative to simplify and package its e-business middleware. Earlier this fall, the software giant began telling its business partners about Jupiter, a project that will integrate Microsoft's latest versions of BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, and Content Management Server into a single package. When combined with SharePoint Portal Server, Jupiter would address virtually the same IT requirements as IBM's current WebSphere Express product family and, in some cases, offer additional functionality. However, sources within Microsoft say that Jupiter will probably not ship until late 2003 or early 2004. In the meantime, Microsoft will respond to IBM's campaign with a new edition of its Visual Studio .NET development tools, the initial version of Windows .NET Server, and enhanced versions of other server products.
In short, 2003 will be a year when the two giants of e-business middleware begin their battle for the hearts and minds of mid-market developers and customers. Given Microsoft's entrenched position within many of these organizations, the battle could be a tough one for IBM. Whether it wins or loses, however, the competition will benefit the customers of both vendors.
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
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