Latest News from WebSphere Journal

IBM & Cloud Computing: How "SOA in the Cloud" Can Produce Real Change

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EDT

“SOA serves as the foundation for the move into the cloud,” stated Dr. Kareem Yusuf, Director Product Management, WebSphere Software, IBM in his keynote at SOA World Conference & Expo in NYC Tuesday. “What are the characteristics of the cloud?” Dr Yusuf then asked. Shared infrastructure, self-service capabilities, and the fact that it will be virtualized are several that he mentioned. He also noted that two things stand out about the cloud – self-service access and management, and elastic scaling.

Forget Defining Cloud Computing

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Defining cloud computing has proved to be nearly impossible. Ask ten different people and you'll get ten different answers. Perhaps it's time to move past trying to define the cloud and look into the common characteristics of such solutions.

IBM Expands Its Software Development Lab in Ireland

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT

IBM has announced new investments for its Ireland Development Lab to produce intelligent software, which help lower cost of operations; generate intelligence for quick growth; and build closer business relationships with customers, partners and colleagues. New jobs will be created for high value software engineering work at the lab, which addresses real-world issues such as environment protection projects and maritime affairs.

IBM's Social Networking Through Cloud Computing

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:15:00 EDT

LotusLive Connections simplifies working together, making it easy to identify and work with experts from any company online with the flexibility, convenience and affordable pricing associated with multi-tenant cloud services. Instant messaging, file sharing and activities are all instantly accessible for use with LotusLive networks.

Customizing Your Private Cloud

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:00:00 EDT

The WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance provides several customization capabilities that allow users to produce highly customized private WebSphere clouds. From custom software, to custom middleware topologies, to custom applications, users can produce a private WebSphere clouds that is a perfect fit for their needs.

Government IT & Cloud Computing: Themes for Discussion

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:15:00 EDT

A little over a week ago I put out a request to my readers to help me with my meeting with Vivek Kundra. The response has been awesome!Thank you for your suggestions and recommendations, both public and private. Below, in purely random order, are just some of the comments I've received. If you want to add your voice to the choir, I'll be taking comments through Tuesday evening, May 26th. During my meeting, I will definitely highlight this dialog and will also leave a listing of all comments for Mr. Kundra's review.

Salesforce Offers Free Cloud Starter Kit

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Salesforce.com has created Force.com Free Edition, described as everything a company needs to build and run its first cloud app, good for up to 100 users. It includes a web site with up to 250,000 page views a month, up to 10 custom objects (custom database tables) per user, a sandbox development environment, free online training, and a library of sample applications.

Product Evaluation: JBoss TCO Calculator

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:45:00 EDT

Are you still using expensive, proprietary middleware? Tired of rising license costs? Enterprises such as Priceline.com, Citistreet, and many more have decided there is a better way. There are compelling reasons to switch to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform including more capability for less cost, no vendor lock-in, award-winning support, performance, and modular architecture that enables superior agility and flexibility.

IBM & Cloud Computing: How WebSphere CloudBurst Delivers Consumability

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT

The new IBM WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance is a one-stop shop for creating, deploying, and managing WebSphere virtual systems in a private cloud. It has quite a lot of very cool features that make this a possibility, and I could go on and on about those features.

IBM's Big Blue Cloud

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Well IBM has gone and done it, they've announced a cloud offering yet again. Actually what's interesting about this go, is not that they're getting into the cloud business (again) but instead this time they're serious about it. And like it or not, they're approach actually does kind of make sense for, assuming you're within their target demographic (the large enterprise looking to save a few bucks).

Report from Rational Software Conference 2009

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:27:00 EDT

Rational Software Conference 2009 last week was supposed to be “as real as it gets,” but in the light of day proved a bit anticlimactic. A year after ushering in Jazz, a major new generation of products, Rational has not yet made the compelling business case for it. The hole at the middle of the doughnut remains not the “what” but the “why.” Rational uses the calling cry of Collaborative ALM to promote Jazz, but that is more like a call for repairing your software process as opposed to improving your core business. Collaborative might be a good term to trot out in front of the CxO, but not without a business case justifying why software development should become more collaborative.

IBM Honors Eight Employees with Highest Technical Award

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:15:00 EDT

"IBM Fellows have invented some of the industry's most useful and profitably applied technologies -- much of the computer technology we use today," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our 2009 Fellows were handpicked out of thousands to join this elite and distinguished group of IBM's finest innovators. Thanks to their talent, initiative and sheer passion, I know that IBM's heritage as an innovation company -- the innovation company -- is in good hands."

Harris Corporation to Present at SOA World Conference, June 22-23 in NYC

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:15:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Anil Patel, Software Architect of Harris Corporation, will be presenting at the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East (www.soaworld2009.com) June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. His session will be entitled “Identity Propagation in N-Tier Enterprise Systems." Anil Patel, a Software Architect at Harris Corporation, is currently a member of the Harris Enterprise Architecture Core Technology Center conducting research on IA and standards for SOA. He worked as a Chief Technology Officer and architect for a secure wireless messaging platform for smart devices, a secure appliance to provision wi-fi services to hospitality institutions, and voice based cardiology interpretation reporting software

Report: IBM Ranked #1 in Web Portal Software Market Share

Fri, 22 May 2009 09:15:00 EDT

IBM has announced that IT analyst firm Gartner, Inc., has ranked IBM as the worldwide market share leader in the Portal Products and User Interaction Tools enterprise software segment. The ranking was based on total worldwide software revenue for 2008. A rise in IBM's healthcare client engagements contributed to its portal success.

What's in a Cloud Appliance?

Mon, 11 May 2009 06:35:00 EDT

This blog offers an overview of the capabilities of the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance. It touches on the three main components of the cloud lifecycle as supported by this offering.

IBM to Present at SOA World Conference, June 22-23, 2009 in New York City

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:15:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Tony Carrato, Executive IT Architect of IBM, will be presenting at the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo (www.soaworld2009.com) June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. His session will be entitled “Delivering on SOA Value.” Tony Carrato is an Executive IT Architect for the SOA Advanced Technology team in IBM’s Software Group. He is a member of a team who help IBM

Backing Up Virtual Machines

Tue, 05 May 2009 07:00:00 EDT

Virtualization technology is continuing to be adopted for consolidating data center infrastructure and providing a more flexible platform for moving, provisioning and backing up workloads. This has put an emphasis on backup and recovery; because a single virtual host can contain several virtual machines and is even more important to not only protect the individual virtual machines but the entire virtual host. Virtualization has the same single point of failure as some cluster technologies and services: shared disk. What happens to your virtual infrastructure if you lose connectivity to your primary storage unit? The entire virtual host becomes unavailable and that can put upwards of 8-10 production workloads at risk, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Another $75m Poured into Cloud Computing Start-Up

Mon, 04 May 2009 22:45:00 EDT

Workday, PeopleSoft founder Dave Duffield's latest company, has just gotten another $75 million in funding, a sum that would bring its total to more than $150 million and must make it the most royally financed SaaS venture on the face of the earth.

Mellanox Advances IBM Networking Solutions

Mon, 04 May 2009 22:00:00 EDT

A broad range of application environments will benefit from Mellanox 40Gb/s InfiniBand-connected IBM System Cluster solutions, including applications optimized for industrial design and manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, government and education. They are also an excellent choice for applications that require horizontal scaling capabilities, such as Web serving and collaboration.

IBM Approach to Working Smarter Builds on Leadership

Mon, 04 May 2009 16:30:00 EDT

IBM's comprehensive smarter work approach takes advantage of today's increasingly instrumented and interconnected world. By improving collaboration between people and transforming business processes that are critical to success, organizations can become more agile and responsive to rapidly changing market conditions and better able to pursue new revenue opportunities.

iRise & Ascendant Technology Ship Visualization Solution for WebSphere

Mon, 04 May 2009 09:33:00 EDT

iRise and Ascendant Technology (Atech) have announced the immediate availability of iRise for IBM WebSphere Commerce, a pre-configured set of visualization templates that gives businesses a way to visualize new e-Commerce applications based on IBM solutions. By visualizing before building, organizations can dramatically cut implementation time and delivery cost of the resulting solution. Both iRise and Atech are selling iRise for IBM WebSphere Commerce.

SOA World Expo: SOA Software Announces Governance IBM WebSphere

Fri, 01 May 2009 10:15:00 EDT

SOA Software, a leading provider of unified governance automation products, announced today the availability of Service Manager for IBM WebSphere DataPower. This product provides centralized policy definition and service monitoring for DataPower appliances, allowing customers to easily use their existing DataPower deployments to virtualize enterprise services for high-availability, load-balancing, and offloading of costly XML and security processing.

Omniture Joins IBM User Experience Online Initiative

Fri, 01 May 2009 08:00:00 EDT

In additional support of this sponsorship, Omniture is sponsoring IBM Impact 2009 May 3-8 in Las Vegas. Omniture's Chris Parkin, Senior Director of Genesis Solutions, will be speaking at IBM Impact 2009 on May 5th and will be joined by social media solution provider Pluck, an accredited Omniture Genesis partner and IBM WebSphere commerce partner. They will discuss how mutual Pluck and Omniture retail customers can find value integrating WebSphere commerce technology with Omniture's Online Marketing Suite and Pluck's integrated social media platform. IBM Impact brings together an audience of more than 6,000 online business experts and is designed to provide actionable plans to achieve measurable business outcomes using IBM products and solutions.

New IBM Appliance Delivers Enterprise Cloud Services

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:00:00 EDT

With today's announcement, IBM is empowering clients to consolidate and manage existing resources to realize the economic and technological advantages of increasingly popular private clouds. A primary benefit to customers who already have a SOA foundation is that cloud computing enables them to now reuse and share applications.

IBM Announces New Cloud Offerings

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EDT

IBM announced new offerings today that will help WebSphere users to leverage both public and private clouds. Two new offerings, the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition and the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance, help users construct private WebSphere cloud environments. In addition, more WebSphere offerings are being made available in the form of Amazon Machine Images. This allows users to utilize IBM WebSphere enterprise class software in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).

IBM Helps with Social Networking

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:01:00 EDT

Addressing the rapid pace of information technology transformation across all industries, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new social technology enhancements to developerWorks, to help software developers more easily work together on open standards-based innovations.

Building a Composite Application Using Multiple Web Services

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:30:00 EDT

What happens when your cloud provider has multiple datacenters and has the ability to move your code around based on their need (read: not your need)? One thing that any enterprise IT buyer knows how to say is “who’s throat do I choke?” When you have a composited application, who exactly are you going to be calling? The cloud providers have yet to address the myriad of problems which can, and will, arise.

IBM Blade Center Event: Improving Datacenter ROI in 2009

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:30:00 EDT

In this webcast from the IBM and Intel Virtual Conference Series, IBM discusses IBM System x and Intel and how to improve Datacenter ROI in 2009 with IBM High Performance Servers.

Think Ahead: Latest Dynamic IBM System x and BladeCenter Server Line-up

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:45:00 EDT

Take an exclusive look at IBM's latest innovations from IBM System x and BladeCenter. IT professionals in small and medium businesses, branch offices, and large enterprises will benefit by adopting IBM System x and BladeCenter's next-generation hardware portfolio. The discussion – led by Alex Yost, Vice President and Business Line Executive, IBM Corporation, System x and BladeCenter – will include the latest innovations in server performance, systems management, IBM X-Architecture, Green IT and virtualization, highlighting the benefits and improvements these innovations will bring to your IT Infrastructure.

The IBM BladeCenter HS22 with the New Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:45:00 EDT

In this webcast from the IBM & Intel Virtual Conference Series, learn how the HS22 offers outstanding performance, flexible configuration options and simple management in an efficient server designed to run a broad range of workloads and enable customers to lower TCO, increase control, and minimize complexity in their x86 IT environments.

Recession Costs IBM

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:15:00 EDT

After letting Sun go to Oracle, an outcome seen as a problem for IBM, Big Blue said its first quarter came up short on revenues. The total was $21.7 billion, down 11% against a consensus of $22.5 billion with earnings of $2.3 billion, off 1% year-over-year. Hardware revenue was off 23%. Service revenue was down 10%. Software revenues were down 6% to $4.5 billion.

IBM to Connect 225,000 NSW Students and Teachers Under Smart Education Wireless Services Contract

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Under the contract, valued at AU$70m, IBM will roll out secure, scalable wireless connectivity at public secondary and central schools, providing more than 200,000 students and around 25,000 teachers with enhanced teaching and learning opportunities.

SYS-CON Webinar: The Four Dimensions of Application Performance Monitoring

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:30:00 EDT

In this Webinar, Gartner analyst Will Cappelli talks about how applications have become central to enterprise IT operations, and how complex architectures have led to significant challenges in monitoring and managing the performance of applications. As enterprise application architectures become more modular, distributed, volatile, and interdependent; applications have become much more difficult to manage, and the need to proactively monitor and manage applications proactively has become stronger.

VMware’s Newfangled Cloud OS Positioned for Takeoff

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:45:00 EDT

VMware is scheduled today to announce the industry’s first cloud operating system ahead of delivering the thing sometime before the end of June.

IBM Layoffs to Hit Europe: Report

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:30:00 EDT

IBM is reportedly getting set to lay off “thousands” of staffers in the UK, Germany and Ireland and move the jobs to Eastern Europe, China, India and South America, according to an unconfirmed story in the Observer over the weekend. The British paper quoted Lee Conrad, the national coordinator of Alliance@IBM, the Communication Workers of America affiliate trying to unionize Big Blue, as saying the layoffs had already started.

IBM Doesn’t Want Sun: CNBC

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EDT

Well, if rebuffing IBM's $7 billion offer as too low the weekend before last was a negotiating tactic then the gambit has blown up in Sun's face according CNBC. Following a Bloomberg story saying Sun wanted IBM to come back to the table - a story that made no mention of price - CNBC rustled up its own sources who told the cable channel that IBM had washed its hands of the whole affair.

Five Ways Cloud Computing Strengthens IT

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EDT

This is a blog that proposes five distinct ways in which cloud computing solutions can strenghten the efforts of development and test teams within an enterprise.

IBM Reportedly Pulls Offer for Sun

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:45:00 EDT

Sun's board rejected a formal IBM offer for the company Saturday as too low, according to the Wall Street Journal. Apparently the price IBM offered was $9.40 a share or less, down from a reported $9.55 late last week. IBM pulled its roughly $7 billion offer off the table on Sunday, according to the Journal, the AP and the New York Times, after Sun terminated IBM's exclusive bargaining rights.

IBM to Move 5,000 U.S. Jobs to India: AP

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:45:00 EDT

IBM is reportedly transferring U.S. jobs in its global services unit to India. The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday morning that the company was expected to tell what the paper could only call "a large number" of American workers that their jobs were either being eliminated or sent to India.

IBM to Transfer U.S. Jobs to India: WSJ

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:15:00 EDT

The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday morning that the company was expected to inform what the paper could only call “a large number” of American workers that their jobs were either being eliminated or sent to India. IBM@Alliance suggests the layoffs will be on Thursday. IBM’s earnings were up 12% to $4.42 billion last quarter; it’s forecast no strain this year because of the slowdown; and it’s supposedly in talks to acquire Sun.

Sun-IBM Watch

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:32:00 EDT

The folks at the Wall Street Journal who brought us tales of IBM buying Sun for $6.5 billion-$8 billion last week were saying by Friday that due diligence was holding up any announcement. The paper seemed to think that IBM lawyers were paying particular attention to Sun's many different IP licenses and formal agreements, including that 2004 antitrust deal with Microsoft that proved such a financial windfall for Sun. It got a patent cross-license out of it too. Perhaps they're weighing whether Sun really had the right to open source Solaris. That was a mare's nest.

SOA Impact Now: IBM Opens Registrations for Its Smart SOA Conference

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:30:00 EDT

IBM has secured the exciting Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino for Impact 2009. You can arrange your accommodations on line as part of the registration process. Please be advised that conference hotel accommodation is limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. All conference sessions will be held at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino.

DOJ Suspects EMC of Hanky-Panky

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:45:00 EST

The Justice Department is investigating storage biggie EMC, the parent company of virtualization leader VMware, for kickbacks and overcharging on government contracts. According to the Wall Street Journal, NetApp, an EMC rival, is expected to pay $128 million for overbilling the government by $131 million.

AccuRev Announces IBM Rational ClearCase Upgrade Program

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:11:00 EST

AccuRev's ClearCase® Upgrade Program allows organizations using ClearCase to purchase AccuRev for less than the cost of their current IBM Rational maintenance agreement. Additionally, it provides a proven coexistence and migration strategy enabling ClearCase users to adopt AccuRev at their own pace.

SOA, BPM, CEP: Getting IT Budget in a Tight Economy

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:30:00 EST

IT budgets don't simply disappear, but it can be difficult to get what you want during tough economic times. But if you focus on the business value your chances will improve. You’re in a squeeze. How things ultimately shake out is not relevant right now, because you need to act right now. Work still needs to get done, systems need to stay running, and you must continue to keep pace with your competitors.

IBM to Deliver Cloud Computing Software with Amazon

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:00:00 EST

IBM has announced a new agreement with Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, to deliver IBM's software to clients and developers. The new "pay-as-you-go" model provides clients with access to development and production instances of IBM DB2, Informix Dynamic Server, WebSphere Portal, Lotus Web Content Management, WebSphere sMash and Novell's SUSE Linux operating system software in the Amazon EC2 environment. Effective immediately, IBM is making available new Amazon Machine Images at no charge for development and test purposes, enabling software developers to quickly build pre-production applications based on IBM software within Amazon EC2. The new portfolio will over time extend to include Service Management capabilities from IBM Tivoli software for Amazon EC2 to help clients better control and automate their dynamic infrastructures in the cloud.

Cenzic Announces Patent Cross-License Agreement with IBM

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST

Cenzic announced a patent cross-license agreement with IBM that will allow both companies to seek new business opportunities in the area of Web application security assessment. "IBM is committed to a strategy of licensing its intellectual property to foster innovation and enable collaboration," said Dan Cerutti, general manager, IBM Intellectual Property Licensing. "Pursuing patent cross-licenses provides a foundation for IBM and other organizations to work together, while differentiating their products and competing in the market."

New IBM Petaflop Supercomputer at German Forschungszentrum Juelich

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:46:00 EST

The German research center Forschungszentrum Juelich has selected IBM to develop the first supercomputer in Europe capable of one Petaflop, or one thousand trillion operations per second. IBM will partner with Juelich-based Gauss Centre for Supercomputing to install the new IBM Blue Gene/P System in the first half of this year. This new system - financed by the German Government - will help assure Forschungszentrum Juelich remains one of Europe's most renowned research centers and continues to play an important role in the global high performance computing research community.

IBM Releases New Services for Virtualized Data Storage

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:45:00 EST

IBM announced several new services and products to help clients build more dynamic infrastructures that will bring more intelligence, automation, integration, and efficiencies to the digital and physical worlds. As a result, it will enable businesses and governments to better respond to and manage challenges presented by today's globally integrated planet. In response, IBM announced products and services to address these requirements.

IBM to Build World’s Most Powerful Computer

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:32:00 EST

IBM is going build a supercomputer more powerful than ever built before for the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Worthy of its name, Sequoia will be based on future IBM BlueGene technology and exceed 20 petaflops. IBM says Sequoia will include 1.6 million IBM POWER processors housed in 96 refrigerator-sized racks occupying 3,422 square feet and brags that it will be more powerful than the combined performance of all of the systems on today’s list of TOP500 supercomputers while offering “unprecedented” levels of energy efficiency.