WebSphere Goes Mobile

The company last week unveiled WebSphere Everyplace Anywhere, a middleware solution that provides an integrated mobile server, device management capability and development tools to extend applications to a variety of mobile devices. The solution leverages technology from IBM's WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Portal, DB2, and Lotus and Tivoli products.

Later this year, IBM expects to add voice and alert capabilities plus location-based services to the WebSphere Everyplace Anywhere solution, said Latina Connelly, director of IBM's pervasive enterprise strategy. Pricing for WebSphere Everyplace Anywhere wasn't available at press time.

IBM's release of WebSphere Everyplace Anywhere comes in the wake of new mobile-access solutions from rivals such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Microsoft, as well as some second-tier providers. Business executives want to access e-mail and calendar information via their handhelds and to increase operational efficiencies, such as in the supply chain, through the use of mobile applications, Connelly said.

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

By offering a modular software framework, IBM can start with a basic mobile solution and expand it over time, said Jim Collins, vice president of mobile computing at Cotelligent, a San Francisco-based solution provider that has worked with WebSphere products for nearly two years.

"We need to solve their initial problems, but then we want to show [IBM a path that allows them to grow that solution," he said.

Gartner research analyst Daryl Plummer said end-user needs are spurring product development in the mobile middleware space. "Computing is moving closer to the individual, and the individual is demanding access to data anytime and anyplace they choose," Plummer said.

Given the growing number of applications, Cotelligent's decision to go with a tier-one vendor like IBM will be a benefit once the mobile middleware market consolidates, Collins said. "It's going to be a tough game a year from now to stand by yourself," he said.