IBM e-commerce tools for AIX, Solaris, OS/400

By Elinor Mills
IDG News Service, 05/13/99

LAS VEGAS -- IBM yesterday announced at NetWorld+Interop the availability of software and services for creating electronic commerce applications to run on AIX, Solaris and OS/400, as well as services to aid in building secure applications.

At the end of May, IBM will offer an expanded version of its e-Commerce Start Now Program that will run on AIX and OS/400, in addition to Windows NT on which it now operates. Solaris is also supported through software from business partners, said Dick Sullivan, vice president of integrated solutions marketing for IBM.

The e-Commerce Start Now Program helps distributors and resellers vend to small and mid-size companies. The program includes IBM hardware and software. Other programs that will be introduced later this year will target "Web self-service and business intelligence," according to IBM.

The company also announced the availability of IBM Suite, Enterprise Suite and Business Integration Suite for building e-commerce applications running on AIX and Solaris, which it claims are the first such suites on Unix. In addition, IBM is making enhanced versions of IBM Suite and IBM Enterprise Suite for NT that include additional Web application-serving capabilities and upgraded components generally available.

IBM will add support for other platforms, particularly Linux, in the future, Sullivan said.

"We're seeing a great deal of demand for Linux as a platform offering," particularly from ISPs, he said.

However, Sullivan pointed out that demand for NT has also increased. "So it appears that in this e-business world all the boats are rising."

The suites are available this month in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugal Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese (except on Solaris), Japanese, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese.

The IBM Suite for AIX, Solaris and NT can be licensed for $2,499 per suite and $225 per desktop client. The IBM Business Integration Suite for AIX, Solaris and Windows NT can be licensed for $6,499 per suite and $225 per client. The IBM Enterprise Suites for AIX and Solaris can be licensed for $18,249 per suite and $375 per client. The IBM Enterprise Suite for Windows NT is available for $16,249 per suite and $375 per client.

In a separate announcement, IBM said it would offer its SecureWay Software worldwide immediately. The software, dubbed FirstSecure, has been available in the U.S. since March, said Edward Harbour, director of business line management for eNetwork Software at IBM.

In June or July, the SecureWay Web Host Integration and On-Demand Server components will be adapted to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, TCP/IP, public key protocol PKIX and others, Harbour said.

IBM also has initiated a service to help customers create a metadirectory that will manage all their company directories within three to six months. The metadirectory service, which is expected to become a product in the first quarter of 2000, uses IBM's DB2 technology, according to Harbour.

In the future IBM will extend its policy directory to embrace networking concerns such as quality of service and bandwidth constraints, he said.

Later this year, IBM said it would create a Secure Way business partner program for independent software vendors to verify that their products work with IBM technologies and receive certification.