Business Services Industry

IBM Unveils Program To Attract Five Million Developers To WebSphere Software Platform

Business Wire, July 12, 2000

Business & High-Tech Editors

SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000

IBM today announced a program designed to attract five million developers to the WebSphere(a) software platform. IBM anticipates it will reach that goal by the end of this year.

IBM's WebSphere software platform is a complete portfolio of Web infrastructure software that helps companies at each stage of e-business development, from startup to handling high volume Web transactions typical of business-to-business (B2B) e-marketplaces. IBM's WebSphere software platform is a good choice for developers because it has high market penetration, is experiencing high year-over-year growth and provides developers with a customizable, scalable e-business software foundation.

"This program is all about getting developers whatever they need to build powerful e-business applications on top of the WebSphere software platform," said Valerie Olague, director of WebSphere Software Platform Marketing, IBM Software. "Clearly, the success of WebSphere will be determined by the strength of the developer community IBM builds around it."

To encourage developers to use WebSphere, the IBM marketing program will leverage advertising, promotional events and free offerings for developers including trial code, technical support, users' group meetings, education and certification. Developers who will benefit from the program include:

-- developerWorks (www.ibm.com/developerWorks), a free on-line resource that
enables developers worldwide to easily tap into a wealth of tools, code, tips,
news, tutorials, and how-to articles

-- VisualAge Developers' Domain (www.ibm.com/vadd), a free on-line resource
that provides downloads and CDs of IBM's VisualAge for Java application
development offering, as well as supporting components, tools, and how-to
information to help programmers easily develop Java applications

-- Lotus Domino developers who are skilled in Lotus Script Language

programming -- Developers who use application development tools from Microsoft,

Sun and BEA -- Developers who use application development tools from IBM partners

Existing resources that IBM will leverage as part of the program to attract developers include:

-- developerWorks (www.ibm.com/developerWorks), a free on-line resource that
enables developers worldwide to easily tap into a wealth of tools, code, tips,
news, tutorials, and how-to articles

-- VisualAge Developers' Domain (www.ibm.com/vadd), a free on-line resource
that provides downloads and CDs of IBM's VisualAge for Java application
development offering, as well as supporting components, tools, and how-to
information to help programmers easily develop Java applications

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with more than 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM Software offers the widest range of applications, middleware and operating systems for all types of computing platforms, allowing customers to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. The fastest way to get more information about IBM software is through the IBM Software home page at http://www.software.ibm.com. Information about the complete WebSphere software platform is on the Web at http://www.ibm.com/websphere.> (a) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.