Event
Summary
"SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2000--IBM announced new software
that helps companies integrate their IT infrastructures so they can transform
into e-businesses.
Business integration, or enterprise application integration (EAI), is
required for companies that want to engage in corporate mergers and acquisitions,
electronic commerce, and business-to-business (B2B) partnerships. Companies
are integrating and automating their business processes to increase efficiency,
maintain competitive advantage, and strengthen customer relationships.
A
new version of IBM's MQSeries(a) Integrator software helps companies streamline
their business-to-consumer, business-to-business, and application-to-application
computing environments regardless of platform or geography. MQSeries Integrator
Version 2 links, integrates and automates companies' IT infrastructures
quickly and easily.
The
new software strengthens IBM's leadership position in the burgeoning EAI
market, which is expected to total $2.5 billion this year, according to
Aberdeen Group.
British
Telecom is using MQSeries Integrator Version 1, and beta testing MQSeries
Integrator Version 2. "MQSeries Integrator Version 1 helps us transform
legacy data so that it can be understood by other applications, this is
very important for our company, it has saved us from having to do transformations
manually," said Jon Calladine, Systems Interconnect Consultant, British
Telecom. "We believe that the new tooling in MQSeries Integrator Version
2 will reduce the amount of hand coding required for transformations even
further, making our IT architecture more flexible for future changes."
MQSeries Integrator Version 2 features a new visual tool that makes it
easy for non-programmers to create business rules and transformations
without writing complex code. This new tool provides a major advance in
productivity, enabling companies to react quickly to change and opportunities.
"MQSeries
Integrator already helps large companies integrate and transform into
e-businesses," said Bill Reedy, Vice President of Marketing, Business
Integration, IBM Software. "The new features we've announced today make
it a lot easier and faster to implement changes."
MQSeries Integrator Version 2 also features new Extensible Markup Language
(XML) support, making it possible for companies to automatically transform
messages from existing applications into useable data for XML-based applications.
The reverse is also true, MQSeries Integrator Version 2 can transform
XML-formatted messages into useable data for existing applications.
MQSeries Integrator Version 2 builds on the power of MQSeries Integrator
Version 1. MQSeries Integrator Version 1 - which was developed by IBM
and NEON together - is completely upward compatible. MQSeries Integrator
Version 2 is an extension of IBM and NEON's partnership.
"By
working together, NEON and IBM are creating the gorilla of e-business
integration", said Rick Adam, CEO of NEON, IBM's development partner for
MQSeries Integrator Version 2. "Most market researchers have us 1-2 or
2-1 in market share."
MQSeries Integrator Version 2 will provide the integration capabilities
for IBM's recently announced WebSphere B2B Integrator software, which
helps businesses quickly connect to customers, suppliers, business partners,
and e-marketplaces. WebSphere B2B Integrator is also built on IBM's WebSphere
application server, and XML technology for the exchange of e-contracts
called tpaML.
WebSphere
B2B Integrator complements offerings from IBM business partners. For example,
in November 1999, IBM announced an agreement to resell and market Extricity's
AllianceSeries B2B e-commerce software.
IBM
made several other MQSeries family-related announcements this month. A
new stand-alone adapter offering, MQSeries Adapter Offering Version 1,
complements adapter offerings provided by IBM business partners. New support
for HTTP helps MQSeries data pass through firewalls more effectively,
and new platform support for MQSeries allows companies to integrate more
applications on new platforms.
A
Bigger Role for the Industry's Leading Message Broker MQSeries Integrator
Version 2 was designed to be an open framework that combines the hub-based
rules and formatting capabilities of MQSeries Integrator Version 1 - created
by NEON and IBM - with a new architecture based on processor nodes. A
built-in library of processing components can be linked with those from
third-party software vendors, enabling the exploitation of enterprise
resources to achieve business integration.
Graphical
tools allow visual representation of processor nodes and the connections
between them, making it easy to define how business events and critical
data are handled. The sequence in which the functions are processed dynamically
manipulates and routes messages. Further it can combine them with data
from corporate databases, warehouse messages for auditing and analysis,
and also distribute information efficiently to subscribing applications.
Fully
utilizing and complying with such industry standards as Structured Query
Language (SQL) and XML, MQSeries Integrator Version 2, compatible with
the MQSeries based publish/subscribe functions allows users to define
message formats through a message dictionary - either the one supplied
with MQSeries Integrator, or by a third party. Subscribers can register
their interest based on topic and content of messages. Security is also
enhanced with multiple levels of authorization.
MQSeries
Integrator Version 2 is available immediately on the Windows NT platform.
Pricing varies, starting at $100,000 (U.S.). Other platforms including
Sun Solaris and AIX will become available later this year."
Market
Impact
IBM will be a strong competitor in the Enterprise Application Integration
market. Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) is a crucial component of EAI,
and IBM's MQSeries is the strongest product offering in the MOM arena.
This gives IBM a strong leg up on the competition. In addition, their
partnerships with NEON and Extricity make this product offering a powerful
contender.
Any software that reduces the necessity for custom programming at the
middleware layer will be well received by customers. In addition, the
presence of XML support, additional security layers, and publish/subscribe
capabilities are going to give IBM immediate presence in the EAI market.
User
Recommendations
Customers evaluating Enterprise Application Integration solutions should
include IBM's MQSeries Integrator Version 2 on a short list of candidates.
However, if UNIX platform support is required, they should delay the decision
until the product comes into general availability. Support for the product
on Windows NT is available now. Reference sites using the product in production
should be contacted before any decision is made.