Business Services Industry

IBM Announces New WebSphere Application Server Software for OS/390

Business Wire, May 30, 2000

Business & Technology Editors

SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2000

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the June availability of two new Web application server software offerings for the S/390 server platform's flagship operating system, OS/390.

The new software -- WebSphere(a) Application Server Standard Edition and WebSphere Application Server Enterprise Edition -- helps companies evolve into e-businesses by giving them what they need for high-volume transaction Web applications, such as electronic trading, online banking and e-commerce. The new software exploits the S/390 enterprise server's Parallel Sysplex environment and the S/390's security, transaction management and work load management capabilities.

WebSphere Application Server Standard Edition for OS/390 is a Java-based Web application server environment. It helps companies deploy and manage a variety of Web applications, and leverages Java Server Pages (JSPs), XML/XSL and Java Servlets. WebSphere Application Server Standard Edition is currently available on platforms including IBM AIX and AS/400, Sun Solaris, Microsoft Windows NT, Linux and Novell NetWare.

WebSphere Application Server Enterprise Edition for OS/390 expands on the capabilities of WebSphere Standard Edition by providing customers with tighter integration and support for CORBA- and Enterprise Java Bean-based applications and high-transaction, high-performance operating environments. The Enterprise Edition offers the most open solution in the industry for building and deploying powerful business applications that can be ported across many Java-based Web application platforms. WebSphere Application Server Enterprise Edition is currently available on platforms including IBM AIX, Sun Solaris and Microsoft Windows NT.

"We're combining all the strengths of our WebSphere Application Server software with the strengths of the S/390 enterprise server," said David Chew, Director, Enterprise Transaction Systems, IBM Software. "The result is software that allows customers to run the most sophisticated Web-based applications, and at the same time protect their investments in applications they've been running for years. No other company offers software that can do this."

Customers can develop applications on any distributed platform supported by WebSphere Application Server and easily deploy the applications on OS/390. New WebSphere applications can be easily integrated with existing applications.

Pricing and Availability

The new software will be available worldwide on June 30, 2000. WebSphere Application Server Standard Edition costs $795 (U.S.) per machine installation. WebSphere Application Server Enterprise Edition costs $35,000 (U.S.) per machine processor.

About WebSphere Software Platform

IBM WebSphere's customizable family of products provides the industry's most scalable e-business software foundation and application services, and delivers a flexible and open platform on which to build next-generation e-business applications. Based on WebSphere Application Server, the WebSphere Software Platform supports business applications from simple Web publishing through enterprise-scale transaction processing. Through modular, integrated application services, such as Lotus Domino for rich collaboration capabilities and WebSphere Commerce Suite for high-performance, scalable commerce sites, the WebSphere platform transforms the way businesses manage customer, partner and employee relationships. Tightly integrated business and web content development tools and Web site management capabilities deliver the most advanced and productive end-to-end application development, deployment and integration for sophisticated e-business solutions. Information about the complete WebSphere Software Platform is on the Web at http://www.software.ibm.com/websphere.> About S/390 Enterprise Servers

IBM is the world's number one server company. IBM S/390(a) servers support the world's most successful businesses and organizations by providing industry-leading levels of scalability, availability and security for large-scale enterprise computing needs. The S/390 platform is a leader in running multiple, diverse, mission-critical workloads and applications, including e-business, financial and administrative, business intelligence and enterprise resource planning.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 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.ibm.com/software.> (a) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International

Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks or registered

trademarks are property of their respective owners.