IBM Transforms How People Work Together To Deliver Software

Kuala Lumpur, 19 August 2008 - IBM today announced new software that will transform how people will collaborate thereby driving greater value and performance from their globally distributed software investments.

In front of valued customers and business partners attending the IBM Rational Software Development Conference, IBM announced 20 products that break down the walls that inhibit organizations from truly collaborating with partners, suppliers, customers and their employees. These new offerings use IBM's Jazz collaborative technology to help geographically distributed software delivery teams work together in an open, real-time and transparent manner to more effectively deliver and source software solutions.

The challenges of globalization are forcing companies to become more nimble, using an increasingly geographically-dispersed and virtual workforce to remain competitive. In the world of software delivery, this means around the clock collaboration with specialized teams around the globe to pick up where another left off. For other stakeholders in an organization, such as lawyers, a finance department, CIO or CEO, there is an increased need for visibility into how the software is delivered on a global scale. Technologies built on, or using, Jazz can interoperate with software from other vendors allowing customers to significantly improve their ability to communicate data within and between their enterprise.

"Currently, organizational, geographical and technical silos inhibit business agility and return on software investments. In a globally integrated enterprise, organizations need to transform how they collaborate to get the job done," said Mike O’Rourke, Vice President, IBM Rational Software Development. "IBM's Jazz platform breaks down location, infrastructure and organizational barriers, transforming the practice of global software delivery."

According to Forrester Research*, only 37% of stakeholders are satisfied with the speed of internal application development, and just 42% are satisfied with the quality. IBM's new Jazz platform can transform software delivery into a dynamic integration of people, processes and projects. As the scope of software development and delivery broadens in this era of globalization, IBM is incorporating social networking and Web 2.0 practices into the new versions of its market-leading software delivery platform.

Twenty products infused with Jazz by end of 2008

By the end of 2008, IBM and its business partners expect to release 20 products harnessing the collaborative capabilities of Jazz. The new IBM software will help development teams of all sizes improve productivity and manage project requirements in real time.

IBM Rational Team Concert incorporates social networking technologies, such as instant messaging and presence awareness, into the management of a software delivery project on a global scale. IBM Rational Team Concert helps software teams collaborate in real time in the context of specific roles and processes. Integrated version control, work item and build management capabilities help distributed teams overcome geographic and functional barriers to think and work in unison. IBM Rational Team Concert includes automated data gathering resulting in significantly less documentation and provides real-time project health information required to reduce project risk.

Making effective software delivery a reality for the small development team, IBM is introducing IBM Rational Team Concert Express-C Edition, a free version available for download from www.jazz.net using open source Tomcat and Derby. IBM Rational TeamConcert Express-C is designed to help consultants and students gain experience with a global software delivery environment. IBM Rational Team Concert Express can help mid-sized and departmental teams embrace global collaboration quickly using transparent development, out-of-the-box processes and supports up to 50 users per server.

IBM Rational Team Concert Standard Edition, optimized for corporate teams, includes an expanded set of capabilities such as customizable process, real-time project health, enterprise scalability and supports up to 250 users per server. In 2009, IBM Rational Team Concert Enterprise Edition will provide the broadest array of capabilities that any size team can use, including feature-rich work item management and greater source code and configuration management capabilities.

IBM is introducing IBM Rational Requirements Composer to help software delivery teams gain consensus on how a project should be designed using familiar business artifacts such as storyboards, sketches, scenarios and models. Currently in beta, this new software will help teams visualize commitments thereby reducing rework and review cycles on requirements.

IBM is also announcing the beta of IBM Rational Quality Manager, comprehensive test planning and process software which provides a single view into all aspects of a quality plan. With 100% distributed access and Web 2.0-based collaboration, this new software traces where a project stands in the software delivery cycle to help key stakeholders prioritize issues for resolution.

By Jazz enabling the following products, IBM is helping its current customers scale to better take advantage of opportunities presented by globalization:

**New versions of IBM Rational ClearCase, IBM Rational ClearQuest and IBM Rational BuildForge now support global scalability and performance with 24/7 global server monitoring, enhanced security with access control lists, a new web 2.0 style client and Agile process support.

**The new version of IBM Rational RequisitePro integrates with the new Rational Quality Manager to swiftly drive project requirements into test plans.

**The new version of IBM Rational Asset Manager integrates with the Jazz technology in IBM Rational Team Concert to help software delivery teams manage how development assets are used.

At the foundation of these new offerings is Jazz collaborative technology which provides a platform of services enabling powerful integration. Similar to what Eclipse did to consolidate the desktop, Jazz will transform the industry by supporting interoperability across a broad array of collaborative application lifecycle management solutions. Over the next several years, most of the IBM Rational portfolio will evolve to incorporate Jazz technology to improve team collaboration and make it easier to integrate IBM products and those from IBM's business partners. This will provide both new and existing IBM customers with a flexible on-ramp to the Jazz platform of the future.

IBM is developing Jazz and future products in conjunction with the software development community at www.jazz.net. At Jazz.net, members of the community can transparently collaborate with IBM and each other, provide input on requirements, report bugs and ultimately contribute to the development of IBM's industry-leading software delivery platform. By opening up the software development community as a transparent software supply chain, the Jazz.net community will drive the evolution of standards and common components incorporated in future IBM software releases.

Driving value from software investments
To help organizations drive greater value from their current software investments, IBM is announcing new services that map an organization's business value to best practices in software delivery. The IBM Rational Measured Capability Framework, Rational Health Assessment, Rational Self Checks and IBM IT Governance Services help organizations improve insight into their business outcomes by automating, deploying, adapting and measuring proven best practices. IBM's IT Governance Services can help organizations establish governance priorities and identify strengths and gaps putting them on an IT governance roadmap for improved software effectiveness.