IBM Aims To Em-'Power' Developers

Through its new PowerPack program, IBM offers developers free 90-day access to suites of IBM developer tools that correlate to their jobs in the application development process, said Kathy Mandelstein, director of worldwide developer markets at IBM. For instance, an application tester will get access to IBM tools such as TestManager and IBM Rational Robot, since those tools are most applicable to the testing effort, she said.

IBM, Armonk, N.Y., offers so-called tracks for PowerPack users that contain suites customized for the software analyst, software architect, software tester, IT manager or software decision-maker, developer (Java, .Net or Rational) and project manager, as well as for pervasive and embedded solutions. Developers can sign up for as many tracks as they wish, Mandelstein said. The program is available under the Software Developer Platform Resource section on the IBM developerWorks home page.

The PowerPack for analysts includes the Rational tools RequisitePro and Rose XDE Modeler, IBM WebSphere Business Integration, IBM Team Unifying Platform and the Rational Unified Process, a specific set of blueprints for the development process within an organization.

The software architect PowerPack includes IBM Rational Rose Enterprise, IBM Rational Rose XDE Modeler, IBM WebSphere Business Integration and IBM Rational RequisitePro.

The PowerPack for IT managers or software decision-makers provides a set of solutions around business return on investment that focus on compliance and enterprise modernization.

Application developers working with code have three PowerPack choices: Java, .Net and pervasive and embedded solutions.

Developers building Java applications receive the IBM Rational tools XDE Developer Plus for Java, PurifyPlus for Windows, Rapid Developer and Functional Tester for Java and Web, as well as the IBM WebSphere tools Studio Application and Studio Device Developer Java. The PowerPack for .Net developers includes IBM DB2 UDG, .Net versions of Rational software and IBM Rational PurifyPlus for Windows. The Rational pervasive and embedded solutions PowerPack features Rational Rose Technical Developer, Rational Test RealTime and WebSphere Studio Device Developer Java.

Testers who sign up for the PowerPack program receive the Rational tools Functional Tester for Java and Web, PurifyPlus for Windows, Robot, Rapid Developer and Performance Tester, as well as the Rational Unified Process. The tester PowerPack also includes IBM Team Unifying Platform, WebSphere Studio Workload Simulator, IBM TestManager and IBM Tivoli Business Systems Manager.

And finally, the PowerPack for the project manager includes ClearCase, ClearQuest, Team Unifying Platform, RequisitePro and the Rational Unified Process.

Mandelstein said the PowerPack program was modeled after SpeedStart for developers, which IBM launched at PartnerWorld last February. However, the two programs differ slightly, in that SpeedStart addresses emerging technologies such as Linux and Web services, while the PowerPacks focus on developer roles and the notion of collaborative development.

"The PowerPacks take them through how to work within the whole picture [of application life-cycle development], through unified development and working in a team, collaborative environment," Mandelstein said.

IBM has been beating the drum of collaborative development and application life-cycle management since acquiring Rational last February. Rational co-founder Grady Booch, now an IBM Fellow, has long evangelized those notions. In an interview at the EclipseCon show in Anaheim, Calif., Booch stressed that the future of application development rests in the ability of tools vendors to find a way to bring together everyone who touches an application, from concept to deployment.

"Rational owns the mission of being the development organization of IBM," Booch said in an interview with CRN. "So it really unifies the mission of taking Rational's life-cycle tools and processes and bolting it together with the development environment."