IBM has positioned the products as ideal for ISPs and e-commerce infrastructure providers as they can increase the efficiency of the network in a number of ways. It has picked up a few orders from some prominent ISPs and is also looking at outsourcing options for small and medium enterprises, since these constitute a large portion of the industry in the country.

IBM has launched the most comprehensive product series covering all aspects like website improvement and security. These include WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Studio, DB2 Universal Database, MQSeries, security solutions like eNetwork Firewall, VisualAge for Java and Performance Pack.

According to IBM vice-president for software developement and marketing, Vishwesh Padmanabhan, transportability is the major advantage of all these products, which means that they run onany platform including Windows NT, Solaris and AIX, thus allowing customers to leverage on their investments to the hilt. "You invest in Netscape, Microsoft, Apacher servers or Lotus Domino, using the Webserver, you can turn the server into a Java-enabled high performance Web application sever," Padmanabhan said.

IBM has also concentrated on to stick to all global standards, including different networking, security standards, secure e-commerce transaction (SET) norms, and those in database.

Padmanabhan said with such capacity, IBM can target any Indian as a potential client. In fact, there is already a tremendous demand for Websphere Studio, which allows programmers with little experience to create strong websites.

In the next phase, IBM is working on integration of internet technologies with supply chain management. It has developed products to streamline critical operations in a company including supply and manufacturing and messaging and processing. The solutions also look at inventory reduction,overall improvement in working and integration of all functions.

Another major move by the company, to attract talented software developers and companies to provide value-addition to its platform and products, has been receieved with much success, said Padmanabhan.

IBM provides infrastructure and test development facilities to developers to work on new value-added solutions on IBM and other platforms. The company makes sure that such solutions will have scalability, portability or multi-platform functions, availability and dependability. IBM is now looking for more developers in Java, web design and the whole range of networking solutions.

Microsoft Corporation, which has a spectrum of products, is another company open to such an initiative. Scores of companies, by working on value-added solutions for platforms, make millions throughout the world. For Microsoft, it is rewarded by the proliferation of its platforms and thus an assured mass developer base.y