Build-IT to Debut in WebSphere Studio
Heavy workloads are typically easier for a department to shoulder if they are tackled in a collaborative effort. When it comes to developing e-business functions, however, the tools for enabling collaboration are still trickling down the pipeline to the end-user community.
During the first quarter of next year, AS/400 users can look forward to the inclusion of Wallop Software’s Build-IT Web content assembly and management tool into WebSphere Studio.
"We’re excited about this addition to the WebSphere capabilities in our ongoing effort to deliver a comprehensive set of tools and services that we believe are fundamental to building an e-business," Paraic Sweeney, VP of Web server marketing for IBM’s software division
The inclusion of Build-IT into WebSphere Studio furthers the notion of "an open set of tools used effectively by a wide set of people across an open, standards-based workbench," says Rob Bolt, CEO of Wallop Software Inc. (Foster City, Calif.). "The technology automates a wide variety of assembly tasks associated with Web site development and greatly reduces the manual administration required."
Wallop has been able to pioneer the notion of a workbench for Web site development teams by allowing "IBM to fulfill the vision that Wallop initiated around this technology," Bolt says. The Build-IT product is currently used at a number of existing IBM customer locations, and "we see this as an opportunity to extend that capability to a new set of customers, as well as to greatly expand the use of the technology within our existing customer base."
Chase Manhattan Bank has used Wallop’s Built-IT to support an intranet site that communicates among the company’s technology staff, of which there are approximately 1,000 globally, says Roger Cousins, VP of Chase’s global investment services. "While the content contributors are all technical staff, they’re not necessarily developers or Web-trained," he adds.
Chase Manhattan data center personnel have used Wallop Build-IT to publish operational run books, while other departments use the tool to publish service-level agreements and financial information. "Using Wallop Built-IT, individuals are able to use the tool they’re most familiar with, and that can range from Word through Power Point, Front Page; whatever is the most familiar to them," Cousins says.
Build-IT was originally purchased to be a device of convenience for those contributing content for the Web site. However, Chase Manhattan has since discovered that the Webmaster has become much more efficient at their job, having the graphic drag and drop requirements to move objects to the Web servers and it’s an easy tool monitoring the site. Can also go in graphically and fix broken links. The biggest benefit we’ve had is that it improves the workflow between our contributors and our Web master. Prior to Build-IT, Chase Manhattan had to rely primarily on e-mails and phone calls to perform this task.
In a related announcement, NetObjects Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.) announced it will license Build-IT and WebSphere Studio, tools complementary to NetObject’s own Authoring Server Suite. Since the WebSphere workbench provides a unified view of all components in a Web site, individual tools such as NetObjects Fusion can be launched from through WebSphere to aid in creating and updating a Web site.