| IBM is an undisputed leader in hardware/software, services and infrastructure, and core applications but relies on ISVs to achieve vertical market dominance and new market penetration. By enabling ISVs with an integrated platform and open standards information architecture in its autonomic development environment, IBM and its partners can provide horizontal- and vertical-market solutions to the small, medium, and large enterprise. This has to be good news for all concerned. To create new, long-term business requires major shifts in technology, like autonomic computing. Major companies such as IBM develop these new technologies; thereafter alliances and business partner programs create the future profits. The large companies like IBM are entrenched in their positions due to their enormous financial stability, marketing clout, large customer base, and sales and distribution networks. In this environment, it is difficult for small, or even medium, size ISVs to compete. The president of Tripwire, a leading ISV, sums up the value of the relationship with IBM. "Tripwire shares in the IBM vision of a future in which IT is more reliable and the lives of IT professionals more livable. We believe autonomic computing provides the means to make that vision a reality, and we are proud to partner with IBM in this endeavor." —W. Wyatt Starnes, founder and CEO of Tripwire, Inc.[3] [3] See comments in article, http://www-306.ibm.com/autonomic/pdfs. |
