IBM prepares to unveil new software and services

NEWS IBM next week plans to detail new software and services offerings meant to better position the company to take advantage of modern computing system designs, ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com has learned.

The company is set to make an announcement on Wednesday regarding services-oriented architectures, which are a way of building computing systems to be more cost-effective and flexible, a company representative said. The announcement will entail new products for IBM's WebSphere line of Java server software as well as services offerings from IBM's Global Services consulting division, according to sources.

A services-oriented architecture, or SOA, is a way of designing software to make it easier to automate business processes and share information between disparate systems. To construct an SOA, companies write applications as an assemblage of interoperable components that communicate using industry standards, such as Web services. This modular application approach is more cost-effective because it allows companies to create a software function, such as an order management application, and reuse it in many instances throughout a corporation.

Analysts predict that business customers will adopt SOAs over the next few years as standards mature and companies gain a better understanding of effective design practices. Technology vendors that supply the infrastructure software to build and run corporate applications are trying to update their products to better meet SOA requirements.

IBM's rival in Java server software, BEA Systems, next month is expected to provide further detail on Project Sierra, a plan meant to describe the business benefits of an SOA. Oracle earlier this week introduced Java development tools to promote a services architecture, and Microsoft's Indigo project, an integral part of the upcoming Longhorn version of Windows, is meant to enable SOAs.

Next week, IBM plans to provide further detail about its long-term plan for providing the tools and services to put SOAs into practice. The company plans to introduce consulting services from IBM Global Services intended to help companies make the transition to the new systems design, sources said.

IBM's consulting-driven approach to services-oriented architecture reflects the company's belief that SOAs represent a significant shift in computing systems designs, said Ron Schmelzer, an analyst at research company ZapThink. Much like earlier shifts to client/server and Web-based computing, SOAs require companies to rework how they design, build and run their business applications.

"IBM has realised that architecture is really one of those things you can't get with a product," said Schmelzer. "There's going to be a more holistic view of their product lines and a tighter connection between products and services."

IBM late last year also opened an SOA Centre of Excellence to promote its expertise in consulting and research and to drive sales of SOA-related contracts through the Global Services division.

Big Blue is also looking at additions to its WebSphere line of software. The company has already updated its WebSphere Java server software to work with Web services and has introduced tools for automating complex business processes through Web services-based work-flow software. Next week, the company will be introducing enhancements designed to allow technology professionals to more easily make adjustments to custom-written Web services applications once they are running, according to sources.

Many companies are using Web services standards to improve interoperability between disparate systems. But because many standards, such as those for security and business process automation, are immature, there is often a need for professional services to implement large-scale business applications around an SOA, according to David Smith, an analyst at Gartner.

"There's clearly a need for services and software, and that plays to IBM's strength," Smith said.