IBM Announces Integrated Server, software and services

Dubai, UAE
Several service providers, including BT Cellnet, Telecom Italia, Avenir, UniXS and others are working with IBM to upgrade existing mobile e-business offerings and deliver a range of new business applications to millions of users of wireless users.

The new IBM mobile internet infrastructure solution comprises: A new edition of WebSphere, IBM's e-business software platform for linking business applications to the web, which has been extended to the mobile environment and tailored for the needs of the mobile internet service provider; A new low-cost high-performance server configured for the needs of e-business service providers; and a new hosting service, which lets businesses get up and running fast by allowing them to virtually "rent" the IT infrastructure needed to deploy e-business applications to mobile devices.

"The market for web-ready mobile devices has exploded in Europe over the last year, along with a massive push by service providers to get web content and real e-business applications ready for the mobile environment," said Val Rahmani, vice president Communications Sector for IBM EMEA. "What they have been looking for is the robust, integrated IT infrastructure that can support those web applications in a mobile environment, providing the critical link between the Web and the wireless networks. With a new server, new middleware and new services capabilities, IBM will deliver those infrastructure services for the next generation devices and faster wireless networks."

The new mobile e-business products to power next-generation services are:

WebSphere Everyplace Service Provider Edition: A new breed of middleware provides unprecedented function and scale for wireless service providers. In benchmark tests, IBM's new WebSphere Everyplace software has set new records for scalability, out performing similar offerings by more than 300 percent, supporting more than 3 million simultaneous wireless transactions in sub-second response time. It integrates all the necessary functions for connecting mobile devices to the content and commerce on the web, including: A wireless gateway to support multiple wired and wireless networks and protocols; a transcoding server to re-purpose existing Web content for mobile devices; message queuing and synchronization to support online and off-line operations; personalization and subscriber management and encryption and security features.

IBM e-server model p640 offers IBM's industry leading copper chip technology in a compact and rugged package designed for the carrier grade environment. It is a cost effective, 1-4 way SMP server powered by the high performance RISC 64 bit Power3-II microprocessor. The new 640 server is designed for high availability with features such as "lights out" system management, redundant cooling fans, and redundant power supplies.

New mobile e-business hosting services where IBM will partner with wireless carriers to provide businesses with instant access to a complete set of solutions for deploying mobile e-business services, giving them the technology they need when they need it while also reducing capital expenditures and staffing requirements and increasing time-to-market. BM is the most experienced provider of e-business hosting services in the world, operating 175 data centers worldwide, 15 IBM e-Business Hosting Centers, and to meet rising customer demand, the company has plans to open 65 more centers in the U.S. and Europe through agreements with Qwest, KPNQwest, Telecom Italia, and AT&T. Just as with e-business, companies in the mobile space are looking for the value added services that only IBM can provide in critical areas such as business and technical consulting, data management, security and recovery. Through this new service, IBM is taking its leadership in Web Hosting and applying it to the wireless market.

"The wireless space is wide open," said Dennis Gaughan of AMR, an
independent IT analyst firm. "WebSphere Everyplace is one of the most complete wireless products available and it is backed by an army of consultants from IBM Global Services and its other wireless partners. This new suite of offerings and its customer momentum should put IBM on the short list for any business looking to add wireless to its portfolio."

Through these products and services IBM is taking its expertise of managing complex systems with very high-volume transactions and applying it to the mobile e-business market. For example, WebSphere Everyplace has been tested to support more than 5 million subscribers, and because it uses the same load balancing software that allowed IBM to handle 11.3 billion hits to the Sydney Olympic web site, it can theoretically scale to unlimited
number of users by increasing the number of processors.

Among the European mobile e-business service providers already working with IBM are UniXS Solutions NV, a Wireless Applications Service Provider for businesses, and a subsidiary of ABN-Amro. UniXS has selected IBM to provide the key components for its wireless internet platform. The platform will enable customers and employees of companies to exchange, integrate and
synchronize information from any location, using any communications device. Telecom Italia is working with IBM to add new capabilities to the joint IBM/TI Web-hosting centers to support wireless and pervasive devices for the large-scale deployment of b2b business and ecommerce applications, including Lotus Notes. BT Cellnet is working with IBM to develop and support the commercial roll-out of wireless services for businesses, wireless access to email and other business applications. And Avenir, a major French ISP, is using the IBM e-business infrastructure to extend its wireless ISP service to WAP phones and PDAs.

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, working with customers around the world to leverage e-Business technologies to transform and improve business performance.
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Issued on behalf of IBM Corporation by Gulf Hill & Knowlton, Dubai. For further information please contact James Mullan on telephone; 00 971 4 334 4930; fax; 334 4923 or e-mail jmullan@hillandknowlton.co.ae