IBM Advances Express Software Lineup For SMBs

IBM this week 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 businesses with no more than 1,000 workers evolve into on-demand enterprises. 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, which resides at the core of IBMs freshly revamped jStart program. The success of these initiatives are 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.

Adapted from Internetnews.com.