IBM Adds Mobile Capabilities To WebSphere

IBM on Tuesday unveiled WebSphere Everyplace Anywhere, a wireless mobile middleware solution that provides a mobile server, device management and development tools to extend applications to a variety of mobile devices.

The release from IBM follows solutions from a number of other heavyweights, such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Microsoft, as well as a number of second-tier providers. Each company is approaching the mobile problem from a unique angle.

IBM's solution leverages technology from WebSphere, including the WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Portal, DB2 and Lotus Notes family of products. WebSphere Everyplace Anywhere also will contain mobile development tools as part of IBM's Eclipse framework, the company said.

Momentum in this space is building from user demand, said Daryl Plummer, an analyst at Gartner.

"Computing is moving closer to the individual, and the individual is demanding access to data anytime and anyplace they choose," he said.

Latina Connelly, director of IBM's pervasive enterprise strategy, said corporate executives want access to e-mail and calendar information on their handhelds. They are also seeking to increase supply chain efficiencies through mobile applications.

"The enterprise has been trying to avoid pervasive technology," Connelly said. "But we are finding that they are now starting to deal with it."

Pricing for the product was not available, but Connelly said the product will be based on modules with different feature sets so that customers can start out small and build in mobility features over time.