In-Depth

October Inside IBM

• 10/01/1999

The Open Applications Group Inc. (OAGI), a non-profit industry consortium comprised of many of the most prominent stakeholders in the software industry, defines standards for interoperability between applications, which includes establishing common formats so that disparate applications can exchange information. Many vendors have announced support for the OAGI Business Object Document (BOD) standards, which are defined using the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). By adopting IBM’s proposal, the OAGI has now defined a middleware standard for conveying Business Object Documents (BODs) and other message formats between applications.

Many of the OAGI members participated in the process that led to the adoption of this proposal and the Open Applications Group intends to continue to evolve the Open Applications Group Middleware Application Programming Interface Specification Application Messaging Interface (AMI) specification in keeping with their best practices approach to application integration.

With IBM’s AMI implementation, applications on different platforms exchange information via IBM’s MQSeries messaging oriented middleware, which guarantees secure and reliable message delivery between more than 35 different platforms. IT administrators can set up these transactions using the AMI’s graphical tools, which both shields the administrators from the complexities of the individual platforms and minimizes the need for expensive, whole-system testing every time they make a small change.

The recent MQSeries announcements stated that the AMI will be made available over an MQSeries messaging foundation for AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, Windows 98 and Windows NT in 3Q 1999, and will be available in the future for OS/390.

For more information, visit www.software.ibm.com/ts/mqseries.

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IBM’s new series of commercial PCs are touted to be easier to use and less expensive to own and maintain. Available in both general purpose and Small Business Series models, the newly-designed IBM PC 300GL features a new suite of manageability tools designed to save businesses both time and money. Additionally, the new PC boasts IBM’s smallest commercial PC design to date and can be leased for as little as $30 per month from IBM’s SuccessLease for Small Business.

With the purchase of an IBM PC, Universal Management Services are available for downloading (at no additional charge) on IBM’s Web site at www.ibm.com/pc/ww/software/sysmgmt/products/ums.

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IBM unveiled a diversity of products and a new online shopping experience designed for today’s Internet-focused consumer e-lifestyles. These products include the first IBM Aptiva PCs with recently announced, high-speed AMD Athlon processors. In addition, the systems feature World Book Online Internet service with expanded availability and the latest in home phoneline networking technology. These models will be available through the ShopIBM Web site, which has been enhanced to better reflect how consumers want to shop, buy and build a relationship with their e-commerce vendors.

Sold exclusively through the ShopIBM Web site at www.ibm.com/shop, the two new Aptiva S Series systems, the 860 and 865, feature large hard drives, memory storage, fast AMD Athlon processors, DVD-ROM drives, leading graphics cards and integrated home phoneline networking technology.

Included in the subscription price of $9.95 per month or $49.95 per year, World Book Online gives students access to proprietary content from popular newspapers around the country on related research topics, and directs students to relevant and reputable Web sites to help with their studies and reports.

For more information about IBM Aptiva PCs, call (800) 426-7235 (x4340), or visit www.ibm.com/aptiva. For information on World Book Online, call (800) 320-3277, or visit www.worldbookonline.com.

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IBM’s Netfinity 7000 M10 server, coupled with DB2 Universal Database, eclipsed competitors recently by setting a new performance record for processing orders electronically. Surpassing all existing four-way results for Intel-based servers – including those from Compaq and Hewlett Packard – the Netfinity 7000 M10 server achieved a result of 3,028 Sales and Distribution (SD) Benchmark users and processed the equivalent of 304,000 order line items per hour when running the SAP R/3 Three-Tier (SD) Benchmark.

Netfinity servers are armor plated with advanced technologies, such as Light Path Diagnostics and "Chipkill" memory adopted from IBM’s Big Iron heritage. The Netfinity X-Architecture provides a design blueprint for migrating these mainframe attributes to industry standard servers. Since 1998, Netfinity servers have set over 42 performance records, including 23 number one benchmark results in 1999. Information on the Netfinity X-Architecture can be found at www.pc.ibm.com/us/netfinity/xarchitecture. Server performance information can be found at www.pc.ibm.com/us/techlink/srvperf.html.

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IBM released the world’s highest capacity notebook PC hard drive. Travelstar 25GS is designed for premium notebook PCs and holds four times as much data as the average notebook hard drive. The drive holds 25 gigabytes (GB), the equivalent of either 20 TV-quality movies, 792 feet of shelved books or seven million pages of text. At 5,400 revolutions per minute (rpm), the new Travelstar 25GS drive has the highest rpm of any notebook PC hard drive, contributing to significantly higher performance.

IBM’s new 12 GB Travelstar 12GN for ultra-portables is the world’s most rugged hard drive. IBM also introduced an 18 GB drive for mainstream notebook users. Travelstar 18GT holds the equivalent of the text printed on 18 pickup trucks full of paper. For more information, call (888) 426-5214, or visit www.ibm.com/harddrive.