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IBM Attracts New Developers To ISeries

IBM's effort to reinvigorate its iSeries server product line is gaining momentum thanks, in part, to growing support from third-party software and tools vendors, the company said Tuesday. A focus on the midmarket also has helped, IBM said.

"The iSeries has struggled on and off for the last few years," says Peter Bingaman, VP of IBM's eServer iSeries. "This initiative is a clear signal that we're aggressively putting ourselves back in the game. We're seeing momentum by reconnecting with software developers who had previously thought we had abandoned them."

IBM launched the iSeries Initiative for Innovation in February, which is targeted at increasing the contribution of software and tools vendors that target midmarket applications and customers.

In the past, IBM concentrated efforts too heavily on large business accounts and a handful of application and tools vendors, says Joyce Bordash, director of channel marketing for the iSeries. "There had been a natural migration to 'bigger is better'," she says. "But we need the guys making that application for the shoe stores just as much as SAP and Oracle."

IBM will invest about $125 million this year in support of developers of software and tools for the midmarket, Bingaman says.

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