IBM Corp. on Monday announced three new Express offerings for the mid-market designed to help midsized businesses manage and integrate their data.
DB2 Content Manager, DB2 Everyplace Edition, and IBM SurfAid Express join seven other products in IBM’s Express line that are designed specifically for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
“Based on our research, [the mid-market] is going to continue to invest heavily in transforming their business by doing integration work with their customers and suppliers,” said Eric Oliver, executive, emerging markets, IBM Canada Ltd., in Markham, Ont. “What we’re trying to do here is produce a line of products that are going to enable them to execute against that requirement.”
The DB2 Content Manager Express allows users to capture, manage, store, protect and integrate information from disparate sources such as products from Siebel Systems, Peoplesoft Inc., and SAP AG. IBM said the product can be installed with one click and is imbued with self-management capabilities. Currently available, it retails at US$9,375 per server and US$1,063 per concurrent user.
The DB2 Everyplace Edition allows users with mobile devices to access corporate information in real-time, the company said. It supports Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms. Pricing was not available at press time.
IBM SurfAid Express is a monthly hosted service from IBM Global Services that assists users to track customer movement and collect information about their customers from the company’s Web site, Oliver said. The service provides feedback about site traffic, marketing campaigns, visitor geographies, site navigation, site design effectiveness, visitor loyalty and site stickiness. The cost starts at US$100 per month.
IBM’s Express line includes the WebSphere Commerce Express, WebSphere MQExpress and DB2 Content Manager Express software packages; packaged solution offerings including IBM Product Lifecycle Management Express and IBM eServer Integrated Platform Express for Employee Workplace; and other Express products which are offered through IBM Global Services. These include IBM Wholesale Distribution Solution for SAP and managed services and hosted offerings. [ Please see IBM gives SMBs special attention.]
“The common thread throughout [the Express products] is that they’re offered it as a fixed-price, fixed-scope type of offering,” said Laurie McCabe, vice-president, small and medium business solutions, Summit Strategies Inc. in Boston, Mass. She said that with enterprise solutions, companies often end up absorbing unforeseen costs with software licensing, professional services, implementation and systems integration. She explained that IBM is trying to make these costs more predictable for SMBs, which is helpful for this particular market because these companies don’t tend to have large IT budgets. She added that as SMBs are looking more and more to integrate, IBM’s solutions would be a viable option.
For more information visit IBM Canada at www.ibm.ca.
