IBM announced an expanded SOA strategy in September building on the recent momentum it has gained over its archrival in this space, BEA, as well as Microsoft's .NET strategy.

 IBM may face its most difficult challenge from the collection of Open Source technologies that is now referred to as LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Python/Perl/php), but the company seems to be adopting a savvy and aggressive Linux strategy of its own as a way to reach out to the Open Source community and, more importantly, reach those customers who are demanding Linux in their enterprise IT environments.

Steve Mills, senior vice-president and group executive of the IBM Software Group, led the splashy announcement. He said that the new software and services "build on IBM's existing SOA capabilities. Specifically, new and enhanced software from IBM's WebSphere portfolio is designed for business process management."

Mills said the new strategy entails "greater levels of integration" among WebSphere and IBM's Rational and Tivoli product offerings. He also said that IBM will reach customers "of all sizes" with its new strategy and held forth on the overall vision, saying that "SOA implies much more than simple Web Services connections or a yet-to-be delivered set of business components that might work together. It is about realizing the benefits of business process management today with existing application assets. The new software and services we are announcing today build on IBM's leadership - we have the most comprehensive set of capabilities for business process management and integration in the marketplace today."

IBM's Robert LeBlanc, general manager of WebSphere, joined Mills for questions from what sounded like a semi-skeptical press regarding IBM's embrace, or lack thereof, of the Java Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). His answers said, in essence, that IBM will be going its own way down this road. (You can learn more about his remarks in the article about this announcement in this issue of WebSphere Journal.)

One would guess that there are technical and marketing reasons for this approach, with IBM seemingly having gained enough market share and clout to bend the rules of SOA development to its will in the future.

Meanwhile, on the Open Source front, IBM maintains that it is the Linux market leader. In an exclusive interview with WebSphere Journal, the man who leads IBM's worldwide Linux strategy, Adam Jollans, explains his view of what the company is doing.

Big Blue's bête noire Microsoft is reaching its 30th birthday and as OS/2, the technically superior operating system that Microsoft defeated is being put to pasture, IBM is rejuvenating its aggression in the enterprise IT marketplace. Its SOA and Linux strategies are part of a larger picture of a company simultaneously reaching out to keep up with its customers, lead with its software technologies, and leverage its enormous numbers advantage in service to chart its path as the pre-eminent IT provider in the world.