Update: IBM to offer ESB as part of SOA strategy

As part of a multifaceted SOA software rollout, IBM on Tuesday is joining the list of companies offering a product labeled as an ESB (enterprise service bus).

The comprehensive SOA arsenal unveiled by IBM also features a business process server, modeler and monitor; a component assembler and a set of best practices for SOA.

“The major message is that business process management is a critical part of SOA and we have new products that are integrated and open around BPM,” said Sandy Carter, vice president of strategy for channels and marketing at IBM. The company has tracked that is has more than 1,000 SOA customer engagements, she said.

While definitions can vary, an ESB is generally considered to be a Web services-based bus for integrating applications and processes in an SOA.

Although IBM’s new WebSphere ESB is officially identified as an ESB, IBM maintains it already has had a product in the ESB space. That product, WebSphere Message Broker, supports Web services standards such as SOAP and WSDL as well as additional communications mechanisms such as BizTalk, Java Message Service and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). A new version of the message broker being introduced provides advanced ESB capabilities, providing universal connectivity and data transformation.

WebSphere ESB is limited to Web services protocols like WSDL, SOAP and BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) to offer connectivity and data transformation. “We’ve seen a trend in the marketplace for customers who are really looking for a more lightweight ESB product,” Carter said. The ESB features an abbreviated version of the WebSphere application server.

But WebSphere ESB is not an abbreviated version of Message Broker, said IBM’s Robert LeBlanc, general manager for WebSphere within the IBM Software Group. “It’s a product onto itself,” LeBlanc said.

ESB activity by the rest of the industry forced IBM’s hand, according to Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink.

“It looks like the market and customers have compelled IBM to release its own ESB-branded product as a way of offsetting the increasing noise and competition in the space for those sorts of products,” Schmelzer said.

IBM has been resistant to labeling a product as an ESB but has had an obvious change of heart. “Customers needed an entry point to be able to do very basic SOA based on a set of Web services,” said LeBlanc. Other vendors offering an ESB include Sonic Software, Cape Clear Software and BEA Systems.

Also being unveiled is WebSphere Process Server, which provides for deploying of business processes such as opening a checking account or checking credit. It features WebSphere ESB embedded within it.

Process Server provides for capabilities similar to Message Broker and provides a superset of functions in the ESB and message Broker. It features workflow management and process choreography.

Another new product, WebSphere Business Modeler version 6, models processes. An upgrade to an existing product, version 6 features an enhanced user experience, more analytics and simulation and collaborative modeling for group-based development.

IBM’s new WebSphere Integration Developer is a GUI-based tool that takes input from Business Modeler and provides for developing services or leveraging of existing services as part of an SOA. Components are assembled in the product. “This allows you to reuse components,” said Carter. The product is based on Eclipse open source tools technology.

In conjunction, IBM is unveiling a new version of Rational Application Developer for building and testing services that can be consumed as part of Integration Developer.

A new version of WebSphere Business Monitor is featured in the product rollout as a real-time dashboard for monitoring performance of processes. Later this month, IBM will introduce a Tivoli management capability for composite applications based on SOA.

IBM’s product rollout features “an awful lot of products,” said Shawn Willett, analyst at Current Analysis.

“SOA’s are supposed to be about simplifying the corporate IT environment, and IBM risks complicating it with overlapping products and different ‘entry points,’ ” Willett said.

Big Blue’s SOA strategy was described as superior to Microsoft’s Windows Communication Framework plan, formerly known as Indigo, for Web services systems.

“They’re offering a relatively simple point-to-point connection,” said Steve Mills, IBM senior vice president group executive for the company’s software group.

“It’s not the preferred style for enterprise-class operation,” Mills added.

Shipping dates for the products vary. Process Server and Integration Developer are due at the end of this month. WebSphere ESB and Business Modeler are due later this year. Business Monitor ships either later this year or early in 2006. Prices have not been revealed.

Process Server technologies may be released to the “open community,” LeBlanc said.

IBM’s new SOA Foundation, meanwhile, features the new SOA software and best practices for assembling, deploying and managing an SOA. Governance is featured.

“[SOA Foundation provides] more of a concept of what are the capabilities that you need to be successful,” Carter said.

“Industry accelerators” are being provided as part of the rollout to serve as templates for setting up an SOA in industries such as banking. IBM also will offer free services under the umbrella of its “SOA Jumpstart” program. The services are intended to help customers get started on defining an SOA architecture, analyze needs such as governance and assess alignment of business and IT goals.

SOA Industry Teams will be aligned to key vertical industries including communications, distribution, financial services, industrial, public sector and small and medium-sized  businesses.

Phase 2 of IBM’s SOA Partner Initiative is being introduced to give IBM’s ISVs and regional system integrators skills in SOA. Among the companies already signed up are Adobe, Avaya, Blue Titan and Cognos.

 Fee-based SOA services will be offered by IBM. These include services to deliver a completed business process; business enablement, including assessing a strategy and helping to build a governance model; design services, implementation and management.