IBM Corp’s Global Network duly unveiled a blitz of Internet products and services last week which, at first sight, appear designed to ensure that existing Big Blue customers return to it, rather than head off to rivals for their Internet requirements (CI No 2,684). John Patrick, vice-president of Internet applications, described the Internet Connection Family as, IBM embracing the Internet. There is server software to enable users of OS/2, AIX, OS/400 and MVS to create their own World Wide Web sites, and Web browser software for OS/2 and AIX. It is also offering users help with home page design, creation and hosting on the Web, and advice on security. It has promised Internet application building tools; gateway products to link DB2, CICS and MQSeries to the Web; and search engines to help users find information on the Internet by colour and shape, as well as straight text. IBM said that it has, or will, deliver Internet Connection products in four sectors: access, with connection and firewall software; presence, World Wide Web-based marketing and distribution; integration, connecting Web sites to core business systems; and enablement, running and subscribing to applications networked over the Web. Web Servers for AIX and OS/2 will be available at the end of July, from $1,500 and $800 respectively; secure versions will be available in beta form at that time. Web Servers will also go up on SP2s and be integrated into OS/400 in the first half of next year and MVS, for which no time-scale was given.
Security program
Secure versions will support S-HTTP Secure HyperText Transport Protocol and SSL, Secure Sockets Layer. An additional Network Security Program NetSP, Secured Gateway for AIX to protect networks from outsiders on the Internet is also on the way. The CICS, DB2, and MQSeries gateways will enable users to initiate queries from their browser, have it access an IBM WebServer that translates, in the DB2 case, to SQL, which interrogates the database and passes the result back to the user over the Internet. The DB2 gateway can be downloaded from IBM’s Web site from this week and the CICS implementation is in beta test. There’s no date for MQSeries, which IBM said will provide guaranteed delivery of messages over the Net. A Web implementation of the VisualAge developme nt environment is also being prepared. On the client side, IBM’s home-grown Web browser, WebExplorer is already bundled with OS/2 Warp and gets new graphics streaming from next month. The Windows version, based on the Spyglass Inc Mosaic implementation, came out in March. An OEM version of Spyglass will go up on AIX next quarter. Secure versions are also under way. Network services include a variety of Internet access options via the IBM Global Network; content services will include creating and hosting Web services. There’s a Query by Image Content natural language Internet engine for searching by colour and shape, as well as straight text. An infoMarket Search system now in beta will provide access to selected Internet databases by year-end. Anti-virus software to protect against 6,000-odd viruses is available from IBM’s home pages. Consulting and implementation services will include NetSP firewall bundles and AS/400 server installations, plus planning, network design, home page design, content design, creation, testing and security. Fees for home page creation would typically begin at between $10,000 and $20,000 IBM estimates. Hosting home pages starts with a one-time charge of $1,200, plus five tiers of service pegged to a use of a maximum 100Mb disk (every extra 30Mb is charged at $30 per month). Pages with up to 5,000 hits per month cost $800 a month. Up to 10,000 hits are $1,050 a month; 20,000 hits are $1,500; 50,000 are $2,300 and 100,000 are $3,300. All of the new products and services will be available on IBM systems initially, followed by its supported environments such as Windows NT and Solaris, and then on whatever systems customers want. We will hook anyone up, said Patrick. It will accommodate whatever Internet technolo
gies users have already a ccumulated. The company is less clear about how it will make the switch from targeting information technology managers for its products, to selling to the marketing managers typically responsible for Web operations. Meantime, IBM has developed, iKP, a mechanism to provide secure transactions over the Net which will be used by IBM and Europay International’s money-on-a-chip system. Cards will be read through swiping readers attached to personal computers, telephones and televisions to buy products and services on-line, using iKP.
