IBM is expanding its Workplace on Demand strategy, announcing a server-managed platform for desktops, PDAs, cellpones and embedded systems it said provided a level of rich functionality, security and data integration not found in current browser-based approaches that are used to span platforms or tap small footprint devices.
The platform utilizes IBM’s WebSphere portal to provide a framework at the interface layer, WebSphere server on the back-end, Tivoli for provisioning and DB2 storage.
First deliverables are IBM Lotus Workplace Messaging, browser-based e-mail that is upgraded for rich clients, and IBM Lotus Workplace Documents, a virtualized storage system that effectively replicates data between client and server.
Development tools are planned by the end of this year, enabling developers to build applications using Java, SyncML for interoperability across multiple clients, and Web Services Remote Publishing (WSRP) to aggregate content from different sources.
Also announced was Workplace Client Technology Micro Edition 5.7, comprising device versions of middleware from IBM’s DB2, MQ Series, and Java runtimes. Backing yesterday’s news were IBM partners Adobe, PeopleSoft and Siebel Software.
IBM appears to be responding to Microsoft Corp’s re-invention of fat client computing, called today rich client. Microsoft’s planned Longhorn operating system is expected to integrate search and browsing capabilities, while the .NET Framework will be extended to Microsoft’s database for the first time next year, integrating SQL Server 2005 with Visual Studio 2005, and the accompanying next revision of the .NET Framework.
Jeanette Barlow, market manager for IBM Workplace, said the difference between Longhorn, SQL Server 2005 and next .NET Framework are IBM’s package, is that many of IBM’s components are already shipping and run across different platforms. IBM’s framework supports Windows, Unix, and Symbian, with plans to add MacOS later this year.
Barlow said one of IBM’s objectives is to unify information at the back end, breaking down silos of data, for presentation on multiple devices. Unification at the back end will allow organizations to consistently present the same data, in a managed, secure Tivoli-based environment via either browser or rich clients, Barlow said.
By providing organizations a choice of browser or client front end, individuals who received lots of e-mail, for example, can opt for the client-based Workplace Messaging software to avoid latency and bandwidth problems that would impact performance of the browser edition of Workplace Messaging.
Ironically, it was IBM’s Notes division, providing the interface element here and apparently fronting much of yesterday’s news, that before IBM’s acquisition attempted a new client model in the late 1990s, with the Java-based, eSuite thin client alternative to Office and Windows.
Along with the network computer, eSuite failed to take off, and Barlow yesterday said the Workplace initiative is more advanced than eSuite because it can utilize technologies not previously available, such as web services, portal and Tivoli management and provisioning.
