IBM Global Services introduces packaged model

IBM’s yen for using its prodigious Global Services organization to solve any and all manner of IT problems for customers is well-established. But for many enterprises — especially those without bottomless IT coffers — those Global Services contracts can be terrifyingly complicated and potentially expensive affairs.

That’s why IBM has worked in recent months to bring more definition and predictability to its services offerings. In September, the company announced a major overhaul of its services business and introduced the concept of “service products,” standardized service offerings that can be used by IBM customers anywhere.

Last week, the company added more color to the service-product picture, unveiling VIA (Virtual Infrastructure Access), a “service product” that offers portal-based access to resources running on virtualized servers.

VIA has four offerings: IT Strategy and Architecture; Middleware Services for Web services and SOAs; an End-User offering for communication and collaboration between users; and Integrated Communications.

The idea of packaging services will have repercussions beyond IBM, said Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research.

“You can expect other services companies to emulate this. It is goodness all around,” said Djurdjevic, adding that it will speed up projects and reduce the number of people who must get involved for both Global Services and its clients.

There is more independence of the device from the operating systems and applications that gives IT more flexibility in what they deploy and how they deploy it, said Pat Bolton, director of End-User Services Portfolio, and CTO of End-User Services at IBM.

For example, VIA End-User will allow IT to deploy a pre-configured thin client that is IP-based and uses virtualware. That means end-users will be able to access applications regardless of the platform they’re using or whether they’re working locally or remotely.

Paul Roehrig, senior analyst at Forrester Research, said this model has some intriguing aspects.

“It could be a step toward true commoditization in the services market, if they are linking the technology foundation to a more commoditized, user-friendly, replicable, and scalable business model,” Roehrig said.

IBM will be continuing its service-product push with a new help-desk service product in 2007.