In-Depth

November Inside IBM

• 11/01/1998

Transaction Server Technologies

IBM integrated its transactional server technologies into one family of offerings, The WebSphere family. Along with Lotus Domino, The WebSphere Family represents a complete range of Web application server environments that support business applications from simple Web publishing through enterprise-scale transaction processing.

The expanded WebSphere family integrates the Web server, transaction processing, Web commerce and distributed component technologies of IBM’s WebSphere Application Server, TX Series, Net.Commerce and Component Broker products. This lineup of transactional application servers makes e-business a reality, regardless of where companies are in that process. It provides an easy growth path as business needs change and companies’ Web presence intensifies.

The WebSphere application servers are at the center of the WebSphere product line, a solution for developing and implementing networked applications. The product line also includes WebSphere Performance Pack. Web facilities management software that supports rapid growth of high-volume Web sites, and WebSphere Studio, an integrated set of Web development tools.

WebSphere Application Servers are a tiered set of offerings, including:

• WebSphere Application Server, Standard Edition — provides companies with an open, multi-platform, standards-based, Web server deployment platform and Web site management tools. It offers customers a solution to deploy e-business Web sites across a range of operating systems platforms including AIX, Windows NT, Sun Solaris, OS/400, OS/390 and OS/2 Warp Server.

• WebSphere Application Server, Advanced Edition — expands on the capabilities of the Standard edition to provide enhanced support for scaling Web sites into secure, transactional e-business applications. The Advanced edition connects Web applications to existing databases and host-based transaction systems, and offers sophisticated tools that simplify deployment of distributed component-based applications.

• WebSphere Application Server, Enterprise Edition — enhances the Advanced edition and offers a robust solution that grows e-business applications into mission-critical enterprise environments, leveraging existing skills and IT systems. It combines TXSeries, IBM’s distributed transactional application environment, with the full distributed object and business process integration capabilities of Component Broker. All applications currently running on TXSeries or Component Broker will be fully supported by the Enterprise edition.

IBM Net.Commerce, which is IBM’s strategic offering for electronic commerce applications, is part of the WebSphere family and will assume WebSphere branding in 1999. As a result, current Net.Commerce customers will benefit from the broad range of functionality of the new WebSphere Application Server family.

IBM’s Startup for e-business is a CD-ROM that has all the software, services and connectivity tools necessary to immediately start conducting e-business over the Web. Using the software, any small business owner, entrepreneur or hobbyist can easily create and host a professional Web site, set up a merchant account and instantly process credit card transactions over the Internet (starting as low as $24.95 per month, plus a one-time set up charge).

Startup for e-business provides Web site hosting services on IBM’s highly-secure servers and provides online catalogs and shopping cart capabilities that make it easy for visitors to browse through the Web sites. On-screen hit counters and site registration help users keep track of their valuable customer base.

IBM’s Startup for e-business includes a powerful e-mail application (Lotus Mail) and the Netscape Navigator 4.0.5 Web browser. IBM also enables Startup for e-business customers to get up and running on the Internet with a free 30-day trial of IBM Internet Connection Services’ Access Internet Kit. Users also get a free 30-day trial of IBM PC Data Vaulting to backup their files online for safe archiving.

Managing Electronic and Paper Information

Xerox Corporation and IBM announced an initiative to deliver a new solution to help customers easily manage paper and electronic documents across an enterprise. This new knowledge-sharing solution will integrate two of the industry’s flagship products - the Xerox Document Centre family of digital multifunction office systems and Lotus Domino Web server software from IBM’s Lotus Development Corp. subsidiary. The result will give customers a unified system for scanning, electronic document management, e-mail, messaging, fax and distributed printing, enhancing workgroup collaboration.

In addition, Xerox and IBM plan to add support for the Salutation Architecture open standard next year. The Salutation Architecture, endorsed by more than 30 global technology leaders, provides a universal means to access and manage a range of devices across a network, including scanners, printers, fax machines and multifunction devices. This is particularly valuable for mobile employees who need to access and act on information while away from their offices.

For the initial implementation, Xerox, with the support of IBM, Lotus and Xerox Connect, the Xerox solutions-delivery company, will integrate the Document Centre with Lotus Domino through scanning interface integration. This capability enables users to easily scan hardcopy documents from the Document Centre into a Lotus Notes e-mail format or a Domino.doc digital repository. Those documents can be scanned as images, or hardcopy text can be automatically converted into editable electronic document files using the included Xerox TextBridge optical character recognition software.

IBM Internet Connection Services announces a new Premium Plan to customers in the United States, Canada and selected Latin American countries effective November 15, 1998. Priced competitively, the plan is designed to provide professional Internet customers and small and medium businesses with more on-line productivity tools to help facilitate communication with employees, customers, trading partners and vendors.

Included in the Premium Plan are:

• 12 MB of email storage space per user ID
• 10 MB of personal Web storage space per account (excluding Brazil)
• 3 User IDs
• Premium Customer Care (available in the United States and Canada only)
• Discounted out-of-region roaming³ (in comparison to other IBM Internet Connection Services access plans).

Reduced monthly additional User ID charge (in comparison to other IBM Internet Connection Services access plans).

Customers can use the Premium Plan’s 10 MB of personal Web storage space as a tool that can increase their presence on the Web. Using the IBM Global Network Dialer Version 4.19, customers can easily publish their content to their Website from current releases of applications such as Lotus SmartSuite 97, Netscape Communicator Composer, Microsoft Office 98, Microsoft Front Page 98 and Microsoft Front Page Express.

Also available from IBM is a new IBM Internet Connection Services Internet Access Kit on CD-ROM. The new kit, available at no additional cost, gives customers their choice of either Netscape Communicator or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 bundled with popular software plug-ins such as Adobe Acrobat and Macromedia Shockwave Flash.

Customers may register for the Premium Plan on or after the availability date of November 15, through the Registration Center. IBM Internet Connection Services customers currently registered under the Basic or Comprehensive Plans may choose to stay on their existing pricing plan or change to the Premium Plan at any time on or after the availability date of November 15, via the Account Center. Existing IBM Internet Connection Services customers will be required to enter their account information for authentication.