* IBM, DataPower and the future of application networking
In August, IBM embarked on a significantly heightened Web services strategy with the unveiling of its IBM Tivoli for Composite Application Management (ITCAM) suite. Yet this paled in the face of the company’s announcement last week of its acquisition of DataPower.
DataPower is an acknowledged pure-play leader in Web services, known for its XML acceleration and Web services security offerings. DataPower has helped to define the real-world implementation of service-oriented architectures (SOA) by optimizing emerging Web services and XML standards for performance and security management with its patented XML Generation Three (XG3) technology. This acquisition signals a dedication to SOAs that IBM had not shown before, and the purchase of a family of network appliances is something that is highly unexpected of IBM.
In addition, DataPower was acquired by the WebSphere business unit and is an example of how Web services/SOA/applications networking is really blurring the boundaries between what can be considered the network, what can be considered systems, and what in software is distinct from either.
The network appliance model enables DataPower to route network traffic based on rules-based intelligence and XML content; perform a number of XML-relevant content transformations; and enforce security using Web services encryption, security and policy standards – all at wireline speeds. This will give IBM the ability to deliver Web services technologies as part of the network itself.
IBM’s announcement is the latest in a list of headlines in the application networking space this year. The day before IBM’s announcement, DataPower arch rival Reactivity announced the integration of Microsoft Windows authentication into its own single sign-on offerings for Web services. A few months earlier, Cisco announced its Application-Oriented Networking (AON) initiative. IBM’s acquisition of DataPower, however, now makes IBM the player to watch in SOA integration, bringing leadership in XML networking into the same family with WebSphere, Rational and ITCAM.
This illustrates how dramatically applications are redefining what the network must embrace, while network technologies for message-based routing are forcing application and software vendors to consider the network much more of a strategic priority than in the past. These facts are making for some strange bedfellows in SOA “coop-etition.” Facing threats in application delivery and management from the likes of HP and BEA, it was no surprise that IBM declared its support for Cisco’s AON when that was announced in June. AON itself is being led by a 32-year IBM veteran, Taf Anthias, the former head of IBM’s MQ messaging group. Yet if the DataPower deal is directed at anyone, it is clearly at Cisco and its AON goals. IBM’s message: Applications are primarily about the software, but with critical aspects of the network at stake – effectively the reverse of the Cisco AON theme.
Yet Cisco, IBM, and even the likes of Google are actually sending much the same message, which is simply this: It’s not about software vs. networks. It’s about the future of IT itself. SOAs are fast turning application networks into the information technologies of tomorrow. Everyone with a stake in the enterprise will need to play – and IBM’s acquisition of DataPower means that all bets are off as to what an application network vendor looks like only a mere year or two from now.
