When people talk about how businesses will adopt e-commerce, they usually talk about companies buying hardware, software and training their nerds and end users to use the web-enabled implementations of their corporate applications. They usually don’t talk about companies throwing their hands in the air and saying to e-commerce services companies, You deal with it. We’ll cut the check. But that is probably going to be the reaction that many companies, especially those short on time, people or money, are very likely to have as we head into the next millennium. And IBM is counting on just that reaction to help fuel its steadily growing services business, which is finally offering web hosting, store front management, network management and firewall services to business customers who just don’t want to deal with all the mess that comes with e-commerce, but nonetheless need to get out there and conduct a little e- business.
By Timothy Prickett Morgan
Last week, IBM debuted an expanded web content hosting service that includes all the components customers will need to indulge in e-commerce. Under the Content Hosting Services for e-Commerce offering, IBM gives customers an RS/6000 server with 256 megabytes of memory, 4 gigabytes of disk capacity and 5 gigabytes of bandwidth per month dedicated to their workload. That’s much more than most web hosting services provide, but most web hosting services aren’t running e-commerce software either, which eats MIPS like no tomorrow. The RS/6000 web host is configured with IBM’s AIX operating system, DB2 database and Internet Connection Secure Server (now called Lotus Domino Go for AIX). Customers can also add Netscape’s Enterprise Server and IBM’s Net.Commerce and Net.Data e-commerce software, which can be used to create virtual storefronts and integrate them with existing legacy applications, which may or may not reside on an RS/6000 inside customers’ walls. Those purchasing the IBM hosting services can also obtain order entry, secure credit card transaction processing and customer catalog modules for their sites (for an extra fee, of course), as well as firewall services to ensure that their web site is linked to their corporate applications but does not present a security risk. IBM is also selling network management services as well as customer care and help desk services in the area of e-commerce as part of this deal; it throws in incremental daily site backups for free. The base RS/6000 e-commerce server costs $3,500 to set up and $3,500 a month to maintain. Customers who want a faster RS/6000 processor in their e-commerce host have to pay $4,500 a month, but they also get 20 gigabytes of network bandwidth for the money. Additional disk capacity, which has RAID 5 data protection, costs about $1 per gigabyte, with a $1,500 fee for setting up additional disks on the RS/6000. IBM is charging $6,500 to add extra CPUs to the box and $2,000 for an extra 128 megabytes of memory; monthly hosting fees stay the same after all this kit is added to the box. Extra bandwidth costs between $130 and $390 per 128Kbps block – the more blocks you buy, the cheaper it gets. Having stated all those prices, IBM has put a price cap on its web hosting services, saying that customers will never, no matter how much hardware they add, be charged more than $5,995 per month for hosting (bandwidth excluded, of course).
Enhanced remote access
In addition to the web hosting services, IBM’s Global Services arm has also announced that it is enhancing its remote access options for its global network, which has 950 local dial in ports in 48 countries to help IBM’s corporate customers use the IBM Global Network to save on their phone bills. IBM has rolled out US Robotics X2 modems and ISDN services in a dozen countries – America and Western Europe, for the most part, with a few Asian tigers thrown in have these faster services. IBM has also added support in its connectivity software for the major third party TCP/IP stacks for Windows 3.1, 95 and NT, which means customers can keep the software they know as they move to IBM for network services. IBM is also offering what it calls fenced internet access services which allow companies using the IBM network to restrict access by employees to specific parts of the internet. In-house web proxy servers and firewalls can be equipped to perform the same functions, which is why IBM is selling managed firewall services for customers who want someone else to take care of their firewalls as they play traffic (or vice) cop for corporate end users surfing the web. IBM says the prices it charges for such services will be the same worldwide, dependent on the bandwidth through IBM’s firewall and the number of restricted sites; it did not give out specific prices.
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