IBM made two significant moves to improve its
service-oriented architecture (SOA)
IBM’s Software Group has purchased an enterprise license of LogicLibrary’s Logidex to help
catalog and manage the reusability of software assets, such as Web services
frameworks.
Logidex will complement IBM’s Rational ClearCase and IBM Rational
Application Developer change and configuration management software,
according to LogicLibrary CEO Greg Coticchia. IBM will use Rational and
Logidex to ease business processes integration for customers.
While the Rational line also boasts reusability to cut down on the amount of
code programmers have to write, Coticchia said IBM picked Logidex for
features not found in the Rational line. The Logidex SDA Library lists
assets and their relationships to each other, including technical
infrastructure overlays and business processes.
Coticchia, whose company enjoys a hosting relationship with Microsoft,
called the sale a big customer win for the Pittsburgh-based upstart because
of IBM’s status as a major software tools provider. IBM acquired Rational in
2002, shoring up its software portfolio against the likes of Microsoft and
Borland.
Software tools providers such as IBM, LogicLibrary and Borland have been
advocating and helping customers implement application lifecycle management
(ALM), which lets developers manage a piece of software from the time it is
written to the time it is ready to be reused.
“Using pre-built, reusable components and services delivers enormous
business benefits, including reduced development costs, elimination of
redundancies and the rapid creation of new offerings and composite
applications,” Coticchia said.
“The Logidex purchase is a big win for both IBM and LogicLibrary,” said
ZapThink analyst Jason Bloomberg. “For IBM, it’s a critical tool for the
software group’s ongoing componentization efforts, and for LogicLibrary,
it’s a huge customer win.”
Setting up an SOA is a challenge itself with all of its movable parts, which
is why vendors are successfully hawking management software to corral SOAs.
While IBM’s Software Group chose to buy LogicLibrary for in-house use, IBM
Global Services (IGS) chose to help a valued partner sell its SOA management
software. Big Blue inked a worldwide reseller deal with AmberPoint.
Terms of the deal call for IGS to offer
AmberPoint’s software as part of its SOA Management Practice, designed to
help customers scale their SOAs to cover their bases.
AmberPoint will also provide training and support for IBM’s sales and
consulting teams, although financial terms were not made public. Widely
regarded by analysts, the concern was the first vendor to sell software that
runs natively in Java and .NET.
IBM wasn’t done Monday. In related news, Web services security provider
Forum Systems said it has successfully integrated Forum XWall Web Services
Firewall and Forum Sentry Web Services Security Gateway with IBM’s Tivoli
Access Manager (TAM). TAM uses security and access management for Fortune
1000 customers revving up SOAs.
IBM Solidifies SOA Stance
