IBM to roll out raft of apps, tools

Trying to shore up support across the broad range of its development community, IBM next week at its developerWorksLive conference will roll out a raft of new server-level products, development tools, and technical support programs aimed at both enterprise and SMBs (small and midsize businesses).

Next week’s conference, which this year is combined in with its Planet Tivoli show, will see the company unwrap a series of new members in its Tivoli family. Those products include a version of Tivoli Access Manager with support for third-party e-business products, Tivoli Identity Manager bundled with the company’s Directory Server and Directory Integrator products, as well as a new autonomic engine that will either be bundled into Tivoli or sold separately to third parties.

To go along with the new autonomic engine the company will also introduce the Autonomic Toolkit aimed at third parties that allow them to tap into the autonomic engine so they can provide support for different devices to be monitored and managed from the Tivoli Enterprise Console. Tivoli will also announce an updated version of Tivoli Configuration Manager with built-in support for Automated Teller Machines, along with an improved version of Data Warehouse Manager.

For WebSphere developers, IBM will roll out Version 5 of its WebSphere SDK For Web Services, an integrated developer learning kit for creating, discovering, invoking, and testing Web services designed for the WebSphere platform. Using the product, developers can more easily create, test, and run e-business applications with rudimentary Java or Web services programming skills, company officials said.

The new product supports several Web services standards including WS-Security, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI. It is can be downloaded free of charge for Linux and Windows as part of the company’s Speed Start Web services program.

The company’s new Speed Start Web services kit is designed to assist IT administrators and developers to create and deploy Web services based on open standards. Some of the kit’s free resources include code, online education for programmers of all abilities, and a hands-on lab and lecture series.

Responding to a growing number of developers interested in building applications in XML, Java, and Linux, IBM will announce a new alphaWorks licensing program that makes it simpler for them to license emerging technologies from the alphaWorks Web site.

Over the course of 2002 alphaWorks received more than 1,200 requests from developers wanting to purchase licenses after evaluating technologies for a trial 90 day period. With this level of demand alphaWorks has built an infrastructure that can accommodate this level of interest, company officials said.

“We think the alphaWorks licensing program is an effective way for early adopters to take advantage of IBM technologies before they hit the market,” said Marc Goubert, manager of alphaWorks.

Among the 21 alphaWorks technology licenses available are Thin Client Framework, a design, development, and deployment

approach for developing high-function, e-business clients in Java, and the Interface Tool for Java, which allows Java programs to communicate with ActiveX objects.

Big Blue is scheduled to make two new technologies available for licensing from the alphaWorks site. The first is P3P Policy Editor, a visual tool for creating a Web site’s privacy policy in the P3P language. The second is called Common Rules, a rules-based framework for developing applications with an emphasis on a maximum separation of business logic and data, a company spokesman said.

The conference will see the company continue its aggressive stance with Linux announcing a package aimed at its network of business partners and resellers, making it easier for them to deliver Linux-based hardware and software solutions to midsize companies.

The IBM Integrated Platform Express allows partners to add applications such as e-commerce and CRM to an already integrated hardware-software bundle that includes IBM’s Intel-based servers and its Express line of software.

The Integrated Platform Express is made up of WebSphere Applications Server Express, DB2 Express, and the IBM eServer x225, x235, or the x345 servers.

To help accelerate developers’ adapting their applications to WebSphere, DB2 and associated data management products, and Lotus Notes and Domino, IBM will introduce its “Ready for IBM” program. The new “applications validation” program will provide ISVs with a number of technical and informational resources that will make it easier for developers to port their applications to IBM’s server platforms.

Trying to build developer momentum for DB2, IBM will also introduce a new Web site, called the Porting Zone, designed to help developers port their applications more quickly and effectively to the company’s database.