The IBM Enterprise

With a strong battle strategy and the right ammunition, IBM may lead the charge to the "interactive enterprise."

Only 20 years ago, it could have been said that IBM Corp. defined enterprise computing. Computer technology vendors either competed with IBM or competed for IBM's attention. Customers were proud of running "true blue," or IBM-only computing shops. This, of course, was before the introduction of the PC, the promise of open systems, and the maturing of IBM's star pupil, Microsoft Corp. However, rumors of IBM's imminent death are greatly exaggerated. Although the elephant may not be a tap dancer yet, IBM i s still by far the world's largest computer company in revenue. (See Table 1.)

Background

1970	System 370 Mainframe Series
1981	Personal Computer Series
1984	RT/6150 AIX (Unix) Series
1988	AS/400 Midrange Series

IBM is the quintessential "one-stop shop" for enterprise-level computing technology. Under the IBM umbrella is a vertically integrated business that provides computer and peripheral hardware and develops the application and tools software for those platf orms. This breadth is backed by a range of international consulting, training, and system integration services that position IBM as the world's leading supplier of enterprise computing solutions.

While the primary channel for IBM's products used to be direct sales, today a diverse range of third-party channels supplies IBM products, including global systems integration firms, midrange and open systems solutions providers, value-added resellers, r etail, and mail order. IBM's channel marketing strategies have been widely adopted and emulated throughout the industry. In fact, IBM created entire markets for peripherals (that is, software and services to enhance their core platforms). This began with the "plug compatible" market for mainframe components and peripherals, and continued with the System 36/38 midrange computers, the AS/400, and the PC. These markets are each worth billions of dollars and have stimulated the funding and growth of hundred s of complementary businesses.

Client/Server Takes Its Toll

• the move to graphical user interfaces and the desktop-centric information processor
• the move to "open systems" and the concept of multiple, scalable server resources
• the focus on the database as a single, cross-platform information repository
• the demand for line-of-business applications that are not platform-specific
• the need to link distributed resources together via LANs or WANs

Some of the most visible of IBM's recent strategies, such as the positioning of OS/2 and IBM's closer ties to Apple Computer Inc., are not gaining the market momentum they need. In fact, it appears that the future is cloudy for core parts of these strate gies, such as OS/2 on the desktop, Taligent, and even OpenDoc and the PowerPC chip (especially with the rumors of the impending acquisition of Apple Computer). As a result, it is clear that reactive strategies to combat the increasing influence of the In tel/Microsoft juggernaut are a long way from the proactive strategies of the old IBM -- those that created blossoming markets rather than withering diversions. Notwithstanding this, however, IBM has a number of successful strategies and products for clie nt/server computing.

Database Management

DB2 has been criticized in the past for not having the same extensive feature set as other RDBMS engines such as Oracle and Sybase, and for uncompetitive pricing on the Unix and OS/2 platforms. However, the recent release of DB2 version 4.0 (for MVS) inc ludes many of the features necessary to bring DB2 in line with the competition, including stored procedures, parallel query processing, row locking, and outer join support. The starting prices of the AIX, OS/2, and NT versions of DB2 have dropped to less than $1000 for single-user versions. These efforts bring DB2 broadly in line with the competition's functionality and price points.

The AIX and OS/2 versions of DB2 are able to handle multimedia and user-defined data types and content-based querying of that data. The NT version of DB2 also includes a new, more user-friendly front end that was built using the recently acquired Lotus A pproach desktop data manager. These "relational extenders" enable DB2 to handle a broader range of application solutions better, while new querying functions recognize the requirement of users for better decision support. Unlike its three leading competi tors -- Oracle, Sybase, and Informix -- IBM has not yet acquired third-party technology to enable online analytical processing (OLAP) from its relational engine.

The DB2 engine is supported by an array of complementary products, many of which are listed in Table 3. DB2 may also act as a client or server for IBM's Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA). DRDA is middleware technol ogy that defines protocols for the interoperability of clients and servers running RDBMS systems from multiple vendors, thereby providing an "any-to-any" solution for multiplatform data access. DRDA enables an IBM database to act as a client to one of ma ny third-party RDBMS engines, and vice versa. It also allows DRDA-compatible client applications to access any DRDA-compatible server.

Workgroup Management

IBM CEO Lou Gerstner has promised to provide the necessary funds to capitalize on Notes' user base of 4.5 million copies. You can see the first fruits of this support in Lotus Notes 4.0. This new version delivers a range of new functionality, positions N otes as a viable Internet and Intranet server, and lowers the cost of Notes client software to $69 in order to speed up its seeding onto the corporate desktop. IBM has announced that Flowmark, its rule and event management, extended transaction, workflow product, will integrate more closely with Notes. Notes clients will be able to initiate and monitor workflows managed by Flowmark, while Flowmark clients will be able to do the same for Notes.

Object Technology

At the heart of IBM's OT strategy is System Object Model (SOM), which the company introduced in 1993 and based on the Object Management Group's (OMG) Common Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). SOM lets developers code to a single interface for local obj ects (using SOM) and distributed objects (using DSOM). In this way, SOM provides standards for object interoperability across platforms and development languages. IBM's SOMobjects Developer Toolkit is available for OS/2, AIX, Windows, and MVS (OS/400 sup port is imminent). SOMobjects Workgroup Enabler is available for OS/2, AIX, and Windows for access to local and remote objects.

You can create SOM objects using "direct-to-SOM" compilation extensions to IBM's VisualAge for C++ and VisualAge for Cobol programming languages and compilers. Alternatively, you can create application components with VisualAge for Smalltalk. Therefore, IBM provides an integrated visual development environment. OpenDoc is an IBM-supported specification and set of APIs for delivering cross-platform, distributed objects. OpenDoc is positioned to compete with Microsoft's OLE and OCX component strategies.

The VisualAge development suite is IBM's primary offering to the application software development community. VisualAge delivers programming languages and compilers that are designed to help programmers build graphical applications and make the transition from procedural to object-enabled or fully object-oriented software development paradigms. The VisualAge suite includes: VisualAge for Cobol, VisualAge for C++, and VisualAge for Smalltalk. Complementary to the VisualAge suite is Object REXX for OS/2, a revamped version of IBM's REXX scripting language, and a new Basic development environment designed to compete and coexist with Microsoft's Visual Basic.

IBM has begun the task of building class libraries and business frameworks for reuse by application developers. This effort is supported by tools such as ObjChart, which lets developers model, execute, and debug application objects, and Open Class, which is a set of class libraries for C++ and Smalltalk that provides prebuilt and tested frameworks for GUI building, database access, and task management.

IBM is also building the infrastructure to support the growth of component software. It started the Object Connection Program, which is an effort to foster a component software development, distribution, and support channel, and the Object Technology Uni versity, which offers more than 150 courses in OT. IBM sponsored the Object Technology Conference in 1995, a six-day event attended by more than 1000 people.

IBM and the Internet

By the time you read this, IBM will have announced Project Eagle, a comprehensive strategy for delivering workgroup applications on the Internet. This strategy is based on delivering server-based applications that integrate approximately 57 IBM software products across OS/2, AIX, and Windows NT Server platforms. The strategy is founded on IBM's DB2 RDBMS and Lotus Notes. DB2 will act as an Internet database services engine through its recently announced World Wide Web Connection. Lotus Notes 4.0 already includes Internet functionality to allow a Notes server to service Internet browser clients. Meanwhile, mature system and transaction management products such as SystemView and CICS will provide the monitoring, security, and transaction throughput contr ols essential to run high-volume OLIP (online Internet processing) applications. This functionality will no doubt be supplemented with network management technology from IBM's recent acquisition of Tivoli Systems.

IBM's Client/Server Vision

• complex, heterogeneous networks will behave as a single system
• networks will not be owned or controlled by any one organization
• client/server will slowly evolve into network-centric computing
• the relative importance of desktop devices will gradually diminish
• the universal acceptance of open standards will be necessary
• the nature of applications will change

The foundation for these directions is IBM's own version of three-tier client/server in which there are enterprise servers, operations servers, and desktop servers, each fulfilling a specific functional role in managing the enterprise information assets in a networked architecture. The enterprise server (mainframe) may be used for purposes such as running the primary corporate transaction databases, providing a central repository for corporate objects (business objects or data objects such as documents, sound, and vision), or managing transaction routing and interapplication communications. The operations server may utilize IBM's AS/400, AIX (Unix), or OS/2 server platforms, performing functions such as running line-of-business applications, providing data warehousing platforms and decision-support servers, or running extended enterprise applications such as Internet and workflow servers. The desktop server may utilize IBM's AIX or OS/2 server platforms for providing localized information processing s ervices such as managing replicated database snapshots for decision support.

Tactically, IBM must support these roles by enriching the functionality and extending the connectivity of its core platforms. Recent initiatives include:

• the availability of C, C++, and object-based Cobol languages for MVS
• OpenEdition MVS for running Unix applications on the mainframe
• the availability of MQSeries messaging middleware across all platforms
• SOMobjects, interobject communication middleware for MVS
• DB2's recent enhancements to handle multimedia and user-defined data types

The interactive enterprise, on the other hand, offers an opportunity not just for IBM but for any technology provider that appreciates the synergies between workflow, the Internet, and object technology. All three technologies have not yet fully matured or intertwined: Object technology will be the foundation of component-based software, the Internet will be the infrastructure for distributing and using these components, and workflow will be the "glue" holding it all together. The database (or more like ly the operating system that includes a database, similar to OS/400) is the obvious repository for the various application software and user data objects that the interactive enterprise will have to manage.

The interactive enterprise is a term that could describe the future of client/server. In this brave new world, workgroups will consist of internal corporate users combined with outsourcing and electronic-commerce partners. The workgroup will implement vi rtual applications assembled from business objects, with the connection logic supplied by workflow. The applications will process extended transactions that span multiple, traditional application modules, or composite transactions that involve multimedia data sources. The transactions will be managed by networks that combine LAN, WAN, and Intranet and Internet servers. This network computer will cross organizational boundaries and will be impervious to platform differences. The interactive enterprise is the computing space for which enterprise client/server application vendors will be fighting over the next decade.

Keepers of the Castle