iWay E-Business at High Velocity

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	John Senor, President, iWay Software

What is iWay Software, Information Builders' new spin-off, all about and how will it help businesses succeed with e-business? To begin with, e-business requires rethinking everything you do. It also demands swift adaptation to changed conditions, altered business plans, and new partnerships. Success in e-business is all about velocity - how quickly you can acquire customers, adapt to change, and defeat competitors in faster and faster business conditions.

For example, over eight trillion dollars will be traded electronically by the year 2004. Businesses will have to fight for their share in order to excel in this global electronic marketplace. That's real velocity.

But velocity has an enemy - friction - that slows down change and prevents the achievement of essential e-business goals. Fatal friction often comes from irreplaceable IT systems that were built before the Internet. When back-office assets can't collaborate and contribute to e-business goals, they create friction that causes businesses to fail. Some fold outright, while others languish in marginalized mediocrity.

How can companies avoid such outcomes – especially when there are no universal rules for information systems and no maps or road signs to navigate among them? iWay Software gets older enterprise systems and e-business applications working together. Our tools and solutions help businesses work more efficiently, serve customers better and faster, and become more profitable. How? By providing the missing links between new technologies and back-end systems. With standard connections to over 120 systems and technologies, iWay Software provides a flexible framework enabling organizations to achieve their business goals by eliminating technology barriers. By supercharging the internal machinery of enterprises, iWay overcomes IT friction and achieves the velocity needed for e-business leadership.

First, we drive the e-business process with integration technologies developed over a decade by Information Builders. Second, we work closely with our partners to extend their capabilities – so their products minimize e-business friction, too. For an example of these effective iWay partnerships, read the remarks of Mark Cousins, IBM's worldwide director of Marketing for MQSeries Integrator, at the recent iWay launch in New York City.

iWay has what it takes for real e-business: Business savvy. Integration expertise. Planning and project management. World-leading partners. And great software solutions.

IBM Praises Synergy With iWay Software

Following are his remarks...

I'm personally honored and delighted to have been invited as a guest of iWay, to witness the birth of what promises to be an important and exciting new venture for Information Builders. We're excited about what iWay is doing, because it creates synergy with what we are doing.

What's synergy? When you put things together, and the combined elements create more energy together than they could have apart, that's synergy. And that's exactly what we have here with IBM and iWay.

Businesses need to plan for change and be responsive to it. When we measure time in Web years, we need to react, respond and deliver with the same sense of urgency. E-business customers demand nothing less. But our customers still expect us to meet the high standards we've set in the industry - reliability, availability, and scalability - to help them win business more effectively in an ever more competitive world.

The e-business imperative means that more and more, the focus is on connectivity and integration - bringing together new and existing applications in ways never previously envisioned to create 21st century businesses that can be accessed from anywhere, 24-7.

Our WebSphere platform for e-business delivers on this promise today. But it's our partners who increasingly play a major role in helping us to do this, giving us the capability to deliver a complete solution that's right for the customer.

For example IBM's MQSeries Integrator is the premier solution for application integration. In fact, to add to the Datamation award MQSI won last year, we've just become a Crossroads 2001 A-List Award winner in the enterprise application and data integration product category. MQSI enables enterprises to support all aspects of e-business by providing the means to bring together and integrate all types of applications.

In the increasingly complex world of integration and connectivity, responding to customer opportunities and market demands is a key factor in both winning and keeping the business.

Put simply, customers want and expect the best, but they want it NOW!

But in today's world, it's difficult for one vendor to provide everything for the kind of integration e-business demands. Partnership is critical.

Our partnership with iWay provides us the opportunity to not only offer best-of-breed solutions, but to give the customer a diversity of choice in what they connect to and how they do it. There are few if any real one-size-fits-all solutions, but together with iWay we can offer customers the choice of solution that is right for their business.

IBM and Information Builders have a long-standing partnership stretching back more than 10 years. The launch of iWay provides us both with the opportunity to enhance and increase that blossoming relationship as we continue to partner in more and more areas and leverage each other's strengths.

I was personally delighted when they announced support for MQSeries Integrator via our open framework plug-in technology which more and more partners are adopting as a way of adding complimentary value to an MQSI solution.

IBM is partnering with iWay for their e2E middleware. Their universal adapter suite offers excellent value. Along with MQSI, it speeds the integration of business applications and provides an open and reusable integration infrastructure. The advantage is that this reduces the required skill sets and leverages existing investments.

The bottom line is that IBM and iWay can help reduce the cost of integration for customers. And that's why IBM is partnering with iWay.

Our e-business infrastructure – their backend. Put it together, and you've got great synergy.

iWay Software Launched

iWay Software launched into the enterprise and e-business integration sector as Information Builders spun off the company to develop and market a new line of next-generation integration software with more than 25 technology and services partners and a new global systems integration practice.

President John Senor heads the new company, comprised of Information Builders' former Middleware Technology Group. iWay will deliver rapid e-business integration solutions built on its newly announced suite of enterprise integration products.

Foremost among iWay's products is the iWay Enterprise Integration Suite, a family of software components and tools that give businesses a reusable, plug-and-play architecture for e-business-to-Enterprise (e2E) integration.

Unique Value for e-Business
"As a part of Information Builders, we delivered rock-solid technologies that could integrate information from over 120 different data sources and operating environments. This includes all legacy data, relational databases, ERP, and application products," remarked Senor. "That capability is critical for e-business, which requires comprehensive access to all information assets in the enterprise.

"Furthermore," he explained, "most e-business solutions fall short in this regard. So tying packaged applications and e-business systems to Enterprise IT assets can cost between five and twenty times the cost of the applications themselves - largely because somebody, a consultant or in-house programmer, has to write a lot of custom, non-reusable code in order to connect them."

iWay replaces most of those programming dollars with prepackaged software to save enormous amounts of time, money, effort, and risk. "Think of us as the supermarket for integration software," Senor concluded. Once installed, iWay integration architecture can be used by virtually any e-business application - either custom-built or off-the-shelf. Company officials report that the company's product line extends Information Builders' formidable enterprise middleware, EDA, with additional technologies that position iWay Software as a major force in the e-business integration marketplace.

Solid Technology Drives Partnerships and Consulting Practice
On launch day, iWay Software already boasted more than 25 technology and services partners, each using the unique e-business-to-Enterprise technology that iWay provides. IBM, Oracle, EMC, New Era of Networks (NEON), Pumatech, and many others are participating in a variety of technology cross-licensing, co-marketing, and OEM agreements with iWay.

"Our partners don't want to devote their time and financial resources to build in access to all of the information sources that we already have for their products," Senor summarized. "They would much rather use our intelligent adapters and stay focused on their core competencies."

In addition to products and partnerships, iWay announced a global systems integration practice - iWay Integration Services - in partnership with Information Builders' consulting organization. iWay Integration Services will provide expertise in design, architecture, implementation, and project management for e-business integration projects.

Dr. Martin Slagowitz, Information Builders co-founder and vice president of Consulting, explains. "Organizations today want to buy a solution from specialists, so they can stick to their core competencies and run their business. They don't want to retool in order to implement technology - they want technology to help them speed up business processes. iWay Software delivers the right people with the right tools to build end-to-end solutions, including an architecture that supports future applications."

"We carefully considered all our options for effectively supporting and growing our business intelligence and integration product lines before we entered into this milestone decision," said Gerald Cohen, CEO of both Information Builders and iWay Software. "Separating our Enterprise Integration business from our Web Business Intelligence business allows Information Builders to build a stronger brand identity for each."

Strategic Alliances Instrumental in iWay's Growth

The planned expansion of the Partnership Program is intended to enhance iWay's own enterprise integration solutions, while simultaneously leveraging the expertise and technologies of its partners. Fueling the new partner initiative are continual shifts in the e-business software marketplace, along with increased customer demand for innovative technologies and a complete range of services. iWay meets these needs with integration middleware products and tools that give other software vendors potentially decisive advantages in today's integration marketplace.

iWay Software has already partnered with leading Fortune 500 hardware and software vendors – most recently IBM. iWay enhances IBM's industry-leading WebSphere software platform for e-business, including IBM MQSeries, MQSeries Integrator, WebSphere, Commerce Suite, and VisualAge. Complementing these strategic IBM products, the specialized connectors in iWay's Enterprise Integration Suite furnish SQL-based access to more than 120 different data sources, transaction systems, packaged applications, and applications written in procedural and fourth-generation languages.

IBM is one of more than 40 technology and services partners benefitting from the unique e-business-to-Enterprise (e2E) technology iWay provides. Others – including Oracle, EMC, Pumatech, and NEON – are participating in a variety of technology development, cross-licensing, co-marketing, and original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreements with iWay.

"iWay Software is committed to developing partnerships and alliances," said John Senor, company president. "We are carefully selecting those companies whose technologies and services combine well with our own to create a unique solution and the highest level of customer value. Our increased efforts to expand and improve our Partnership Program conform with our 26-year commitment to providing best-of-breed solutions to our customers. It's a win-win situation for everyone," said Senor.

"iWay Software is actively seeking qualified hardware and software companies, VARs, systems integrators, and consultants to join its Integration Alliance Program," remarked Bill Macy, vice president of Channels Sales for Information Builders and iWay Software. "These partners will recommend, or resell, iWay Software technology to provide their customers with total e-business and wireless m-business integration solutions."

iWay Partner News

NEON and iWay Partner for Broader Access to Information on Multiple Platforms

iWay Software and New Era of Networks, Inc. (NEON), a leading e-business infrastructure provider, have announced a technology and distribution alliance to enhance e-business integration offerings. As iWay's preferred partner for business-to-business integration solutions through the enterprise, NEON and iWay together will provide customers with a set of extended solutions for application and business process integration.

NEON and iWay will jointly develop a solution that allows NEON's integration platforms and iWay's EDA Middleware and adapter architecture to work together. The combination of iWay's integration middleware with NEON's e-Biz IntegratorT and NEONProcess ServerT will enable customers to automate business processes, allowing them to respond to rapidly changing business environments.

OpenConnect - Complementary Capabilities Create Fast, Effective Integration
iWay Software and OpenConnect, a leading provider of Enterprise-to-Web solutions, joined in a strategic alliance to enable organizations to quickly transition to e-business. The partnership combines iWay Software's ability to access all forms of back-office and legacy information with OpenConnect's ability to capture business logic and apply intuitive graphical front-ends.

"Businesspeople know that they need to reuse their existing infrastructure, not rebuild it," said Stuart Burris, senior vice president and chief technology officer of OpenConnect. "iWay Software helps us get at the most complex information around - the legacy data, applications, and transactions that are the lifeblood of the modern enterprise."

iWay Software officers noted that the partnership highlights the effectiveness of iWay's Service Channel Architecture in enabling all sorts of Enterprise Integration solutions. "Together, iWay and OpenConnect can accelerate e-business initiatives in companies that want to move from brick-and-mortar to click-and-mortar business models," remarked John Senor. "We provide access to almost any application, transaction, or relational or legacy data source - over 120 sources in all. OpenConnect wraps up our capabilities with some of their own into convenient packages that let developers easily and rapidly create fully integrated enterprise applications."

"Now it will be easy for mobile workers to receive the most up-to-date enterprise information directly on any handheld device," said Scott Broomfield, president and CEO of Mbrane Software. "This empowers the mobile worker to make on-the-spot decisions and take immediate action when necessary."

The alliance means both companies "are committed to offering the most innovative mobile solution in the market by providing access to more data sources, platforms, protocols, and legacy applications than ever before," concluded Broomfield.

The joint iWay-Pumatech solution will allow IT managers and systems integrators to extend critical back-end applications and databases to devices like Palm OS handhelds, Handspring Visor, IBM WorkPad PC companion, and Symbol Technology's SPT series of devices.

As a result of this partnership, iWay Software is integrating NovaSync's vertical applications with iWay's Mobile Computing Server integration platform. The resulting solutions help businesses create faster, more cost-effective, and more scalable mobile business processes, as iWay integration middleware technology assures the mobile applications are fully integrated with complex back-office systems. Mobile users can now work directly with enterprise information assets such as relational databases, legacy data, transactions, and applications. And companies can reduce latency in the information supply chain, streamline business processes, and simplify IT infrastructure development.