IBM To Target SMBs With WebSphere Express

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In May, IBM outlined to solution providers and analysts the products under the WebSphere Express brand, sources said. The project then seemed to go into silent mode, although an IBM spokeswoman said the WebSphere Express suite, which is "still being refined," is slated for release in the fourth quarter.

One solution provider told CRN that IBM previewed a "skinnied down, light version of WebSphere" to partners during meetings in the spring, but the initial reaction was overwhelmingly negative.

"IBM thought they'd get an enthusiastic, two-thumbs-up, 'This is an awesome idea for an inexpensive product to compete with Microsoft' reaction," said the solution provider, who requested anonymity. "Instead what they got was, 'You've got to be out of your mind.' "

The source said that at the meeting, about 75 percent of partners introduced to the product, which had a price point in the "hundreds of dollars," regarded IBM as foolish for trying to take on Microsoft with WebSphere, which has its roots in the enterprise.

"[Partners said, 'You've never beat Microsoft at their game, what makes you think you can do it now?' " said the source. "IBM has a good reputation in the large enterprise-class market. I told them, 'Why would you want to screw that up by confusing people with WebSphere light?' "

And Microsoft isn't standing still. The company continues to work on an e-business suite comprising a raft of its server products. The suite, code-named Jupiter, is expected to include BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, Host Integration Server, Sharepoint Portal Server and at least some level of integration and shared code between them, according to sources close to the company.

Others maintain that IBM has the resources to make WebSphere Express a go. Brian Glidden, national director for the IBM alliance at Covansys, Farmington Hills, Mich., part of a team of IBM partners that has been working with IBM to position the product, said WebSphere Express is a product "the market has been waiting for."

Glidden said Covansys, in conjunction with 11 IBM partners and three distributors, met ten days ago in New York to discuss IBM's strategy for the WebSphere Express products, which he called "music to our ears."

"We do about 50 percent of our business [in the middle market," said Glidden, defining the space as customers with between $500 million and $2 billion in revenue. "We see WebSphere Express as being a real opportunity for us to further ourselves in the midmarket, which is really the growth space."

Glidden added that the pricing is still is being ironed out but likely will be in the thousands of dollars. Current configurations of WebSphere range from $8,000 per CPU for a single-server version to $35,000 per CPU for the enterprise version, according to IBM.

Another solution provider familiar with both WebSphere Express plans and Microsoft's .Net game plan said that IBM is going to "eat Microsoft's lunch" with its midmarket package because .Net "is not clearly defined."

But one solution provider said that with an out-of-the-box, inexpensive configuration of WebSphere, there would be little need for to offer services around the product. While that spells opportunity for resellers to push WebSphere Express, he said brand recognition for WebSphere is "limited" in the SMB market.

That may be the case, but vendors with enterprise products are increasingly targeting the middle market because the economic climate has crippled demand for large-business IT products, said Will Zachmann, president of Canopus Research, Duxbury, Mass.

"Everyone and their brother is trying to get into the SMB market now because there's no growth in big business," said Zachmann. Small business is big business, he said.

Indeed, another solution provider told CRN that BEA Systems, which competes head-on with IBM in the app server and middleware space, has contacted his company with an opportunity to resell products targeted at midmarket customers.

"BEA has a very active middle-market program," said the source, who requested anonymity.

BEA could not be reached for comment at press time.

John Hitchcock, vice president of marketing and alliances at Hayward, Calif.-based eForce, said there is ample opportunity for solution providers that aren't traditional resellers to resell SMB configurations of successful enterprise products such as WebSphere and WebLogic, since they already are skilled in those products.

"A big part of what we're seeing in the middle market is around reselling, in getting [solution providers to resell," said Hitchcock. "[The opportunity is not to support the software that's sold, but to handle any reselling and any services around the product, which can touch customization, integration etc."

Brad Murphy, senior vice president of strategic business development at Paris-based solution provider Valtech, said that for a product like WebSphere Express to be successful in the SMB space, it must be "a legitimate solution out of the box." Since such products are fairly easy to deploy and don't require significant services, "the reseller community" would be the most likely targets to distribute the products.

"I would suggest that the reseller is the channel that would do that," Murphy said.