IBM Unveils New WebSphere Products

In addition to WebSphere Application Server 5.0, which will fully support the latest J2EE 1.3 spec and be generally available in June, IBM also launched new integration software, WebSphere Business Integration 4.1, as well as updates to the CrossWorlds and MQ Series brands within the WebSphere family.

WebSphere Business Integration 4.1 is a single product combining the functionality of the IBM CrossWorlds InterChange Server, WebSphere MQ Integrator Broker and MQ Workflow products for enabling business-process integration and routing in an enterprise, IBM said. The product is currently available for the AIX, Windows 2000/NT and Sun Solaris hardware operating systems.

IBM, Somers, N.Y., also introduced new WebSphere tools for "enterprise modernization" that are aimed at helping companies identify and manage business processes and applications across the enterprise to facilitate integration, said John Swainson, general manager of application and integration middleware at IBM.

Integration was the order of the day and is the primary goal of the WebSphere line moving forward, Swainson said. In his keynote at the show, he said IBM's WebSphere software line is aimed at tackling five levels of integration within enterprises: user integration, B2B integration, business-process integration, application connectivity and data integration.

IBM also will more tightly integrate the software brands in the WebSphere family, including the MQ Series and CrossWorlds integration products, Swainson said.

"The futures in terms of where we're taking the technology [is we're going to deliver on this promise of an integrated family of products that can be used in a modular, mix-and-match fashion," Swainson said.

"The theme is WebSphere as a platform for integration--to deliver all the functionality people need to improve their business. It is evolving to solve kinds of integration problems that developers tell us are keeping them up at night," he said.

Swainson also said the WebSphere platform is aimed at cutting a company's integration costs by 50 percent by "displacing labor with automation." As the platform evolves, new features--including ones launched today--will automate most of the functions needed to integration apps, data and business processes across an enterprise, cutting the manual labor costs, and thus the cost of integration, in half, he said.

Swainson did not mention, however, if the costs of the WebSphere products themselves--which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars when combined in a platform--would be cut to help companies save integration costs.

New technology features in WebSphere Application Server 5.0 to tackle IBM's integration goals include a UDDI directory so developers can publish applications as Web services as they develop them on the platform.

Industry observers have said that as Web services evolve, they will solve much of the technology difficulties and cost issues surrounding integration both across the enterprise and between companies.

The new WebSphere app server also includes extensions to J2EE for business-process flows and collaboration, Swainson said. He said to do this type of integration today, a process manager extension is needed, but the new app server has the technology built in and connect to the J2EE runtime environment.