IBM has developed an add-on to its WebSphere server software designed to improve the management of back-end computing gear in demanding situations.
The new WebSphere Extended Deployment is meant to let corporate customers more efficiently use the infrastructure, such as hardware servers, databases and application servers, that supports business applications. The software will go into beta testing with about 10 IBM customers on Thursday. It is expected to be available in the fourth quarter this year. The management tools will work in conjunction with WebSphere Network Deployment, a version of IBM"s application server transaction software already in use by thousands of customers. IBM expects the software to appeal mainly to companies with complex computing systems and demanding requirements, such as minimal downtime.
With WebSphere Extended Deployment, customers can create a pool of servers dedicated to running WebSphere applications. They can allocate computer processing power based on changes in demand. A company could dedicate extra servers and databases to a finance application at the end of the quarter. WebSphere can configure and install new software automatically or send an alert to administrator, who can manually bring up more machines. "This is making sure that the machines that you already paid for are configured so you can use them as best as possible and get more out of those machines," said Bob Sutor, director of WebSphere infrastructure at IBM.