IBM Friday reinforced its commitment to the small and midsize business (SMB) market, unveiling four versions of its Tivoli Express management software, whose design and features were heavily influenced by partners.
The new versions, which will formally debut at the company's annual PartnerWorld conference next month in Las Vegas, contains dozens of features specifically designed to accommodate how SMB companies typically deal with managing server workloads, monitoring applications, protecting information and verifying passwords.
"We haven't taken the enterprise products and just turned off some of the features. We have rebuilt them by adding new technology pieces, adding new installation routines and, in some cases, a whole new graphical interface," said Mike Gerentine, IBM's Worldwide Director of Tivoli Channel Strategy and Development.
IBM developed the new products by working with some 45 IBM partners at a number of its development labs over the past 18 months. The partners had critical input into what features and functions should be added, including how the interface should look, according to IBM officials.
"Last year, we brought in some handpicked partners who are expert in this (management and security) area and we formed steering councils. We were intent on validating that what our development guys were building was the right stuff that solved real users' problems," Gerentine said.