IBM is extending its Eclipse-based Rational line and offering new
standalone support for Eclipse users.
Rational Software Delivery Platform 7.0 includes more than a dozen
individual Rational products, with the unifying theme
being the enablement, use, discovery and creation of SOA
Locke said that IBM’s new platform integrates more of the lifecycle than just the development phase. “It used to be just a software development platform and now it’s a software delivery platform and that really changes the game for our users,” Locke told internetnews.com.
One of the new offerings is IBM Rational Elite Support for Eclipse, which was
first announced in
September. Until now there
was not any degree of formal commercial support for the open source
Eclipse IDE.
The only way users could get some support from IBM would
have been to purchase an IBM-licensed, Eclipse-based Rational product. With
IBM Rational Elite Support for Eclipse, developers can now get support just
for Eclipse instead of having to first be running a Rational product.
Other products within the Rational Software Delivery Platform 7.0 include
IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software, IBM Rational
Software Architect, IBM Rational Software Modeler, IBM Rational Systems
Developer, IBM Rational Functional Tester, IBM Rational Manual Tester,
IBM Rational ClearQuest and Functional Testing and Rational Data Architect
and IBM Rational Software Modeler 7.0.
The new tools expand Rational’s integration more upstream
into lines of business aspects such as business modeling, Locke said.
“We can track and govern and ensure with more accuracy that we’re building
stuff in line with what the line of business people want to do.”
The Rational Software Delivery Platform 7.0 rollout is the second major
product release cycle for IBM Rational in the last six months.
At Rational’s Software Development Conference in June, IBM announced a
dozen new team tools also geared toward software delivery. They differ from those included in the Rational Software Delivery Platform
7.0 rollout in that they are optimized for an entire IT development team, including testers, developers and architects, as opposed to being merely role-optimized products.
