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IBM does SME product range
'Honey I shrunk the Rational Build Forge... '

By Richard Thurston

Published: Monday 08 October 2007

IBM has announced a raft of scaled-down software products for small businesses.

The company says SMEs have product-needs that are different from large businesses, because they often lack relevant IT skills in-house.

Most of IBM's software products have in the past been designed for organisations with more than 1,000 employees.

IBM cites statistics from consultancy firm AMI Partners, which predicts IT spending by SMEs will grow by 10 per cent during 2007. However, much of that growth will come from less developed countries, such as the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations, said the consultancy.

One of the new product offerings, Rational Build Forge, is designed to manage the delivery process for new software by standardising and automating those processes. In modifying the software for smaller businesses, IBM has added an easy-install wizard and remote deployment options, and called the product Rational Build Forge Express Edition.

The software has been built from the assets of Build Forge, which IBM bought in 2006. Build Forge Express Edition will cost $49,000 per server and will be made available on 23 October.

Another of the new products announced by the software vendor is Tivoli Network Manager IP Entry Edition, a network-management product. The software is intended to help IT managers understand the topology of their network and the data running over it.

IBM's slew of SME announcements follow a related release last week, when the company said it will optimise its BladeCenter system for smaller offices. That includes allowing the BladeCenter to run outside the comms cabinet and building in a noise attenuator to muffle sound produced by the device.

Richard Thurston writes for ZDNet UK