IBM, Partners Package End-to-end AS/400 Domino Business Applications
IBM has announced what it is calling the first in a series of packaged end-to-end e-business applications for customers who want to connect their back-office to the Internet. The AS/400e-Domino solutions from IBM Business Partners Binary Tree, Clear Technologies, and Emerging Technology Solutions offer a combination of hardware, software and services designed to provide small- and mid-sized customers with an affordable alternative to Windows-NT based applications.
"Traditionally, NT has been a customer-do-the-work solution that has challenged small-to-medium business users needing customization to compete with large enterprises," said Wayne Kernochan, senior VP Platform and Services to the Aberdeen Group Inc. "IBM's new AS/400e-Domino solutions tackle this problem effectively--by providing turnkey, comprehensive packages that allow users to leverage the AS/400e's unmatched SMB back-office prowess for a broad range of e-business needs."
Customers get a new AS/400e Dedicated Server for Domino and can choose one of the following software, service and integration packages: Binary Tree's DSD Merchant for creating electronic store fronts and business-to-business e-commerce sites; Clear Technologies' DSD, a CRM solution that enables companies to share critical sales information and improve customer focus; and Emerging Technologies Solutions' DSD Business-in-a-Box that helps transform back-end infrastructure and launch an Internet front-end for communicating with employees, partners and customers.
In typical PC server-based Domino implementations, customers install multiple Domino servers to handle small business workloads. With the Dedicated Server for Domino, unique partitioning and clustering functions allow customers to run multiple Domino "servers" inside a single AS/400e, so customers can designate and balance the processing power and server space needed to run e-mail, groupware and Web applications, without wasting server resources.
IBM is working with other Lotus Domino application providers to offer similar packaged solutions to make it easier for businesses to automate their sales force, eliminate much of the paperwork in retail operations and perform other business related computing tasks through an affordable, easy-to-operate solution. Customers can finance all elements of their AS/400e-Domino solution directly through IBM Global Financing.