IBM Corp yesterday announced it has acquired Wallop Software Inc’s Build-IT web site assembly tool, for an undisclosed sum. Under the deal, IBM said it would integrate the technology into the next version of its WebSphere application server tools environment, WebSphere Studio, and also license the software to NetObjects, in which IBM has a majority stake. WebSphere Studio incorporates NetObjects tools including Fusion, Bean Builder and Scripts Builder as well as IBM’s VisualAge Java, a workbench platform and development wizards. Build-IT will be integrated into the toolset in the first quarter of 1999. It provides enhanced workbench features that enable development teams to create, manipulate, assemble, deploy and manage the components that comprise high-end, complex web sites. Nigel Beck, WebSphere’s program director, market management, said Build-IT works by continuously compiling all the different components in the web site (HTML, Java Beans, Java scripts and so on) and ensuring they are linked together. By integrating Build-IT, IBM is also gaining further ground in the WebDAV (Web Development and Authoring Version Control) and Extensible Markup Language standards arenas. Beck said the inclusion of WebDAV was most significant as it ensured that any software components can be mixed and matched regardless of what tools have been used to develop them. As part of the agreement, IBM will take over support for all existing Build-IT customers, who will each receive copies of the current version of WebSphere Studio. And when the next release becomes available, IBM will work with these customers and upgrade them to the new integrated product, Beck said. Under the license agreement with IBM, NetObjects will integrate Build-IT’s WebDAV functionality into its Fusion products, WebSphere Studio currently costs $495 per developer but Beck said prices for the new version, including Build-IT, wouldn’t be available until next year.
