IBM Launches Web Services Partner Program
The program, introduced at IBM's PartnerWorld conference here, is called WebServices On WebSphere (WOW) [see Feb. 7 crn.com news story. The effort is designed to help solution providers develop and deploy Web services on IBM's WebSphere e-business platform, which includes its WebSphere application server.
An IBM spokesman said plans call for WOW to be launched in the second quarter, and the company is hoping that the program will draw more than 150 business partners by year-end.
Under WOW, an advisory council of vendors and solution providers will identify programs and product requirements that companies need to build Web services, the spokesman said. IBM and the council also will collaborate to help companies identify the resources and investments they need to deploy Web services, he said.
The council will focus on delivering Web services solutions for vertical markets such as financial services, health care and telecommunications, according to IBM. Council members include representatives from Bowstreet, Macromedia, NeuVis, Siebel Systems, Epicentric and digitalESP.
Brad Murphy, president and founder of solution provider digitalESP, said WOW will go a long way in helping companies usher in Web services. "This is a way of mobilizing visibility and resources to help partners affect the thinking in the marketplace and accelerate the adoption [of Web services," Murphy said.
Web services garnered much attention last year as Java-based software companies such as Sun Microsystems, IBM and BEA Systems crafted strategies to combat Microsoft's .Net Web services platform. Still, Web services deployment remained limited in 2001, and only early adopters are likely to implement Web services this year, industry observers say.
To help drive Web services, IBM and Microsoft earlier this month joined forces in the Web Services Interoperability Organization, an industry group formed to develop Web services standards and promote interoperability. The organization--whose participants also include Oracle, Intel, SAP, WebMethods and Accenture--plans to build best-practices guides, interoperability testing tools and sample applications for instructing solution providers on how to build and deploy Web services.