News

IBM to Deliver New Range of Products, Services, and Support for Network-Based Applications

• By Scott Bekker
• October 27, 1999

IBM Corp. announced today that it will enable service provider companies to increase their revenues by offering new, higher-value services to business customers. The IBM initiative, Service Providers for e-Business, is an integrated portfolio of offerings and support programs created to deliver new business benefits to service providers, including ISPs, application service providers (ASPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), and integrators.

The new services from IBM consist of several elements. ASP Prime is an IBM PartnerWorld for Developers initiative to help ISVs prepare their applications to be hosted by service providers and delivered to customers over the Web. This support for developers includes education, application evaluation, technical support, and a wide range of consulting services for ISVs.

IBM also announced solution centers dedicated to the ASP Prime Initiative, one for Unix and Windows NT developers, the other for AS/400 developers. Hosting Advantage is an initiative within the IBM PartnerWorld program that gives service providers an easy way to assess the reliability of their hosting environments.

Lotus ASP Solution Pack enables ASPs to offer online awareness and instant messaging, meeting services, team collaboration services, messaging and group calendaring, all self-managed by the customer with an integrated portal. Packaged Services for SPs includes new services that service providers can resell to their customers.

IBM Global Financing is addressing the financing needs of service providers by making available a 30-month rent-to-own program as part of the Service Providers for e-Business program.