IBM touts middleware for 'info management'

Single view of customers, accounts and goods

IBM has released a slew of new products intended to underscore its commitment to 'information management'.

Big Blue released version 8.4 of its Enterprise Content Management product at the Information on Demand 2007 conference in Las Vegas this week, and previewed IBM Data Studio and Master Data Management Server.

Data Studio is a free, Eclipse-based tool that manages data lifecycles. Available for download by the end of this month, the software promises improved development times by automating the design, development and deployment of information.

Master Data Management Server essentially acts as a data integration tool, allowing customers to manage all data from a single point, regardless of the database in which the information is stored or the department that owns the information.

The server is currently in beta and is scheduled for general availability by the first quarter of next year.

"The world is moving into an era of extreme transaction processing, extreme information management," said Steve Mills, IBM's senior vice president in charge of software.

"The ability to handle large amounts of volume is absolutely critical to the business models that we are trying to get to."

Mills touted the server as an essential component for a service oriented architecture (SOA).

SOAs offer a platform for componentised applications, allowing end users or application architects to piece together applications by combining functionalities.

As SOAs eliminate barriers between departments, IBM's Master Data Management Server provides access to information from all over an organisation.

IBM intends the server to provide a single view across a company on data items such as customers, products and accounts.

A suggested application might prevent an insurance provider from alienating a good client when one of his children is proving to be a bad driver that costs the firm too much money.

As services and data become universally accessible, organisations can also start architecting large-scale event servers, where large sets of information are fed into an application and processed in real time.

Such an event server could help ensure that a firm maintains its service level agreements by constantly measuring service levels.

It also could predict the results that a storm would have on the operations of an airline, for example, allowing it to reroute baggage and passengers, and reassign crews and aircraft.

Such analyses are typically performed using information stored in the database, providing a mere snapshot of the real situation. In the case of an airline, this could lead to stranded passengers and planes waiting for pilots and cabin crews.

Mills projected that, as more data gets stored, demands on event servers will increase.

IBM has vowed to invest $1bn in its Information on Demand initiative over a period of three years.

The programme is founded on about two dozen acquisitions such as FileNet and Princeton Softech. Mills said that IBM will continue its buying spree, but declined to indicate which areas would draw future investment.

IBM's 'information management' moniker covers all internal developments and past acquisitions.

Charles King, a principal analyst with Pund-IT, argued that the brand is an attempt to "cut IBM software into pieces so that it is easier to digest".