IBM Tuesday readied
three new software products for small and
medium businesses (SMBs) under its Express banner from its DB2, Lotus, and
Tivoli brands.
IBM Express consists of software products designed and priced to help
enterprises with no more than 1,000 workers evolve into on-demand
businesses. They also support open standards to allow integration with
existing software and hardware platforms, part of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM’s
lure to attract customers yearning to steer clear of as many proprietary
offerings as possible. According to AMI Partners, this has the potential of
being a $150 billion growth opportunity for information technology companies
in the mid-market.
Specifically, the new IBM products help mid-sized firms manage data,
storage, collaboration and messaging requirements by helping them integrate
multiple operations. They are equipped with the autonomic computing, or
“self-healing” characteristics customers have come to associate with IBM’s
e-business on-demand strategy.
IBM DB2 Express is a database for the midmarket with an entry price of under
$1,000. It is preconfigured by business partners for retail, manufacturing
and banking markets. DB2 Express also provides self-tuning and
self-configuring characteristics. The offering, which will run on Linux and
Windows, is now available to customers in beta and will be available to the
public in the second-quarter of 2003.
IBM Tivoli Storage Resource Manager Express Edition is aimed at helping SMBs
manage their storage environments.
Designed for single processor desktops, it installs in about 15 minutes. Big
Blue said this can help SMBs get more power for their money because it
alleviates spending on storage hardware.
Lastly, IBM Lotus Domino Collaboration Express will be launched in the
second quarter with licensing and administration options suited for
mid-market enterprises. It will include the Domino Server, plus a choice of
Notes client or iNotes browser-based access to e-mail and collaborative
applications.
The new Express offerings come on the heels of the company’s WebSphere
Express debut last
November, and the success of that is responsible for the new products,
according to IBM.
For example, more than 1,000 business partners have decided to adopt
WebSphere Application Server – Express and WebSphere Portal – Express. The
company said WebSphere Application Server – Express, will add support on
February 21 for IBM’s iSeries and will add support for AIX, Solaris and
HP-UX in later in the first half of this year.
IBM will also release the next version of WebSphere Portal – Express, which
will include support for Linux and Microsoft SQL Server as well as offer new
collaboration features, in the second quarter.
IBM Trots Out SMB Software
