IBM escalates SMB war

IBM will take aim at Microsoft this week at its PartnerWorld conference, unveiling resources geared at wooing developers from Windows-based environments to IBM-supported platforms.

In addition to aiding developer migration to IBM, the company will try to win over developers by going after the SMB (small and midsize business) market with Integrated Runtime, which helps accelerate the rate at which ISVs can build and deploy solutions.

IBM’s developerWorks Migration Station — to be delivered through IBM’s developerWorks site — will be made up of two components: Migration Paths — which offer documentation, toolkits, and road maps to guide migration planning and implementation — and Technical Support — which will be available through online tutorials and on-demand Webcasts.

“It’s one thing for us to talk to developers about moving off Windows and over to standards-based platforms. But the question they are asking us is, ‘How will you help us do that from a technology perspective?’ Well, this is our answer,” said Scott Hebner, vice president of strategy and marketing for ISV and developer relations at IBM.

Integrated Runtime will further open up technical options for developers by working with a range of operating environments, including Windows, Linux, and IBM’s OS/400. Integrated Runtime will be available on March 26.

Some ISVs have already expressed interest in Integrated Runtime. “We see [it] as a scalable entry point to IBM’s portfolio that lets us standardize our e-mail compliance and performance solutions on middleware that we know is field-tested,” said Stephen Chan, vice president of business development at ZipLip, an ISV and IBM business partner.