IBM Helps Ease Windows 2000 Integration; Industry's Largest Portfolio of Windows 2000 Solutions Planned - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 14, 2000

IBM Wednesday announced initiatives to help companies integrate Windows 2000 applications into the enterprise.

IBM, a leading provider of Windows 2000 solutions, will offer development software and technical support at no charge to business partners who are building Windows 2000 applications for connected enterprises. The offering of software and support is designed to ease Windows 2000 integration with other critical business systems inside an enterprise or supply chain.

Independent software developers can take advantage of industry-leading software from IBM and Lotus to build a secure, scaleable infrastructure for their Windows 2000 applications. The Windows 2000-ready software delivers enterprise-level messaging, collaboration, application integration, Java development, and data management capabilities. The development offering includes:

- IBM DB2(a) Universal Database, Version 6.1 - Lotus Domino(a) Release 5 - Lotus Domino Designer(a) Release 5 - IBM MQSeries(a) Version 5.1 - IBM WebSphere(a) Application Server - IBM Developer Kit and Runtime Environment for Windows, Java Technology Edition, Version 1.1.8 - IBM VisualAge(a) for Java, Version 3.0.2 - IBM Communications Server, Version 6.1

Through the PartnerWorld for Developers program, developers can port, test and benchmark their Windows 2000 e-business applications at Solutions Partnership Centers around the world. Through these resource centers, developers can tap into IBM's e-business expertise for technical support and service to help them reduce their development costs and get their applications to market faster.

"Companies want their Windows 2000 applications to interoperate with existing applications, and they are asking for help in easing the integration," said Dick Sullivan, vice president, Solutions and Integrated Marketing, IBM Software. "IBM has e-business leadership, extensive experience with Windows 2000, and more than 40 years of expertise in enterprise computing, so we bring a unique advantage to developers building applications for Windows 2000."

IBM is gearing up for the industry's largest portfolio of solutions for Windows 2000, including hardware, software and services. Within the first quarter, for example, many of IBM's flagship products will be ready to run on Windows 2000. New product releases planned this year and in 2001 will include interfaces designed to exploit Windows 2000 technologies, such as the Microsoft Management Console(b) and Active Directory(b). MQSeries, DB2 Universal Database, and InfoPrint Manager(a) already exploit Windows 2000 system services.

IBM will offer customers and business partners a single point of contact to meet their Windows 2000 server needs -- from technical support to integration services, hardware and software that bring greater reliability, scaleability and security to Windows 2000 environments. FMI: http://www.ibm.com.