New IBM WebSphere Software Delivers Double the Performance of Nearest Competitor for Same Cost

Business Wire, May 30, 2001

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2001

IBM Gives Businesses More Control to Customize and Expand Their

e-Infrastructure; Open Tools to Increase Developer Productivity

IBM* today announced new WebSphere e-infrastructure software that can handle twice the number of transactions as BEA (NASDAQ: BEAS) for the same cost.

In addition, IBM's new WebSphere software and development tools give customers more control to expand and customize their e-infrastructure.

IBM's new WebSphere Version 4 software is the first in the industry to fully address a fundamental shift in the e-infrastructure market, where one-size-fits-all software has become obsolete. Originally, Web application server software was used to Web-enable business applications. Now, companies' e-business operations are evolving as they are also using web application server software to integrate processes and transact business in a mixed-vendor environment.

IBM is the first company to deliver production-ready infrastructure software that supports the broadest set of open Internet standards and is based on IBM's strength in integration and distributed transaction processing. IBM also is leading the next generation of application development by integrating open application development tools with WebSphere. These tools enable software vendors and in-house application developers to integrate their own tools portfolio with IBM's, further increasing developer productivity and flexibility. To expand its ties to the developer community, IBM will be the first in the industry to offer a free, developer-only application server that is Java2(tm) Enterprise Edition (J2EE)**-certified and Web services-enabled.

New WebSphere Application Server Grows with Customer Needs

WebSphere will be available in new configurations designed to meet the needs of a wide variety of customers. For a single department, or for a small businesses like a regional chain of coffee shops that wants to start small with the flexibility to grow, WebSphere will be available in a new, low-cost, single-server configuration with easy, out-of-the-box set-up and administration. For businesses with more complex demands, such as a bank, WebSphere also will be available in a multi-server configuration.

To meet the needs of the most sophisticated e-businesses -- especially those who want to adapt and integrate transaction-intensive business processes over the Internet -- IBM later this year will offer a set of optional "snap-in" WebSphere enterprise extensions that can be easily added to the base application server software. These extensions will deliver functions that expand current J2EE standards, including business rules-driven applications, managing the flow of business processes, expanded internationalization, and extending connectivity to non-Java applications.

New features of WebSphere Version 4 application server include:

- Industry-leading price/performance: IBM delivers double the price performance
of BEA, according to a new, freely available benchmark. Dollar-for-dollar,
WebSphere handles double the JDBC database requests, and 75% more EJB
transactions, as compared to BEA's WebLogic. Additional technologies, such as
JNDI caching and dynamic EJBs re-loading, provide up to 200% better
performance, depending on the type of application. Companies can expect
WebSphere to keep up the pace of performance, unaffected by the growing demands
of increased transactions and application integration. The benchmark is
available at http://www6.software.ibm.com/ dl/websphere27/benchmark-p

- Easier infrastructure integration: WebSphere will connect and inter-operate
with 35 software platforms and the largest number of business applications in
the industry, including SAP, PeopleSoft, IBM's CICS, IMS, host integration and
others. It will also offer tighter integration with other middleware including
IBM's DB2 and other vendors' databases (such as SQLServer), and IBM's
middleware such as MQSeries, Tivoli and Lotus Domino. Improved connectivity
includes J2EE JCA, CORBA, Active-X and expanded database support (native and
JDBC). In addition, more than 9,000 ISV applications are available for
WebSphere software.

- Greater adaptability: In addition to the versatility of single- and
multi-server configurations, WebSphere will offer companies extensions to the
J2EE and web services programming model such as: globalization support (which
automatically adjusts Web pages to various users' time zones, currencies and
language); business rules-driven logic (which eliminates recoding to address
changing business terms); personalization; mobile Internet; and portals.

- Improved transaction integration: WebSphere will deliver the industry's
deepest and broadest support for open Internet standards, enabling customers to
manage transactions and complex integration projects faster and more
efficiently. It will support the variety of emerging open standards and
technologies necessary to develop, publish and deploy Web services applications
including Universal Description Discovery and Integration (UDDI); Simple Object
Access Protocol (SOAP); Web Services Description Language (WSDL); EJB 2.0
Message Beans; and enhanced integration of leading XML technologies - all
within a fully J2EE 1.2-certified environment.

- Improved ease-of-use: To facilitate ease-of use across installation,
administration and product documentation, WebSphere has a comprehensive and
accurate Web-based documentation center that companies can take advantage of,
right from the start. The installation and administration procedures have
improved usability while maintaining a rich and flexible set of selectable
configurations and prerequisites for tailored, open and complete software. The
single server configuration features easy set-up and administration.