IBM to go strong on establishing e-business infrastructure

IBM aims to transform organizations from being 'islands of web applications' to integrated e-business providers and in the process innovate their business models. To achieve this objective, the company is laying emphasis on Project eLiza, which aims at making the e-business infrastructure, storage and software a self-managing system.

The objective of Project eLiza is to have self-healing systems at a time when the complexity of technology is growing at a fast pace. The aim is to have a system that can 'take a lickin and keep on
tickin'.

Revealing the roadmap that IBM was taking to go strong on e-business infrastructure, at the 'IBM Insights: E-business Volume 2' briefing, Voon Seng Chuan, Country GM, IBM Malaysia, said that people have finally come to understand what IBM was talking about for the last five years that e-business is not just about content, or dotcoms, or any of a thousands of "get-rich-quick" schemes. "E-business is about using technology as a tool to do business in a more effective way. It is about real business and all of us know that real business is serious and hard work", said Chuan.

IBM wants to continue to lay stress on open standards that, according to the company, lead to dynamic e-business. Said CJ Martin, Senior Middleware Manager (Asia Pacific), IBM Software Group, "Non-proprietary software standards create integrated business processes that allow for dynamic e-business." According to him, the dynamic adaptation of e-business processes and associated systems directly supports the changing business strategies and tactics. While the early stages of e-business depended on browser-based access to relatively static information and person-to-system interaction, currently IBM is working at intelligent transactions on the Web, on totally integrated and dynamic systems.

Terry Hopkins, Director (Wireless E-business Solutions and Services), speaking on wireless e-business, said that only a scaleable, reliable, flexible and secure wireless technology would put e-business infrastructure on a solid footing. "Wireless e-business is business through any device, any network and any data."

IBM has identified a niche area in the marketplace at a time when dotcom hype has given way to "back to business" reality. Said Timothy Wong, Director (Asia Pacific), IBM NetGen Business, "There is added pressure on the Internet companies to focus on their core competencies to translate their promises into profitability. Blue Velocity is meant to turn infrastructure investments into increased revenues and sustainable growth."

Wireless e-business is the next phase in the e-business continuum where IBM wants to play a major role by trying to establish a common infrastructure that supports access to data from any device, anywhere.

In the meantime, IBM NetGen Business has launched Blue Velocity, a new initiative with a four-pronged approach.

Under Blue Velocity, IBM's ASP Prime is being enhanced to ASP Prime Online. Under this program, developers and independent software vendors would be provided with education, application evaluation, technical support and consulting services on the Web.

With the launch of this new initiative, IBM has added Bangalore to its NetGen City model, while Delhi is already a NetGen city. The NetGen city concept was developed to allow faster and easier access to IBM in these cities. IBM has dedicated teams in these cities that are supported by technical specialists and consultants from IBM Global Services, products business units and competency centers.