IBM has launched a new support package for Web services and claims
it will help get the business-to-business software market back on
its feet.
The company will support of a series of open standards across all
of its major software products, and is offering new tools to enable
applications to be more easily and efficiently connected to the
Web.
Big Blue has taken its core software products: WebSphere
middleware, DB2 database, Tivoli management and security offerings
and elements of its Lotus groupware suite, and has embedded Web
services capabilities into the software.
The Web services will enable users to create, deploy, and host
Web-based applications in a secure manner, with much greater ease
and efficiency.
"The problem with B2B is that it was too difficult to do, but as a
business application its potential is still there," said Mark
Cathcart, technology strategist at IBM. "Web services may well
bring B2B back into focus because it will make business
applications much easier to achieve."
IBM is offering support for open standards such as Java, XML, SOAP
and UDDI (universal description discovery and integration). The
company claims users will be able to integrate existing offerings
easily and turn them into fully functional Web services.
Analysts group IDC is predicting that the global market for
"infrastructure software and services that simplify the integration
of business processes" will hit £35bn by 2005. However, IBM would
not say what share of the market it hoped to take or when it will
make serious profits from Web services.
"We're making money from Web services already," said Cathcart. "It
just depends how you define making money."
New versions of the IBM software will be Web service enabled, and
all new versions are scheduled to ship by the end of June. It is
unclear whether existing users of WebSphere, for example, will be
given the additional functionality for free, or be forced to buy
upgrades.
It seems likely that smaller customers, with one-off purchases,
will be charged, while large corporate customers, with long
licensing deals, will be upgraded free of charge.
Emma Nash