IBM Intros Cross-Platform App Deployment Package

IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., announced Nov. 1 the launching of Lotus Expeditor, an open standards platform for creating Eclipse-based Web 2.0 applications.

Lotus Expeditor will target enterprises who want to combine existing and new applications and be able to deliver them to an array of connected and disconnected devices.

When asked how this product targets enterprises, an IBM representative told eWEEK that “With Lotus Expeditor, companies can do business anytime, anywhere by providing software that runs across a variety of hardware choices.”

Lotus Expeditor will try to solve the problem of applications not having a common language. It seeks to help administrators create a customized user experience that crosses over desktop programs and devices and gives access to important business applications, including, for example, adding extensions to existing financial and sales databases and creating VOIP (voice over IP) plug-ins for instant messaging environments.

“Expeditor delivers productivity anytime, anywhere through composite applications. It can reuse existing portal, forms and instant messaging apps to build new user interfaces customized to a function, industry or business project through the use of mobile devices that can access information as well integration from IBMs Forms, Sametime and other workflow products,” IBM told eWEEK.

/zimages/6/28571.gifRead morehereabout IBMs Lotus Sametime collaboration tools.

Other features of this product include:

• A developer toolkit that will help users create off-line applications
• Assistance in developing composite applications into integrated views and processes
• Access to applications on mobile devices such as PDA and smart phones
• Pre-defined user access levels based on an employees role or function

To go along with Lotus Expeditor, Lotus Mobile Connect will extend the use of Expeditor-based applications by allowing mobile access to IBM Workplace Forms, IBM WebSphere Portal through laptops, tablets or desktops, and other applications.

In the same correspondence to eWEEK, IBM said it is “aiming to give developers choice and flexibility, a new, rich user experience without having to pay extra for the added value.”

Pricing on Lotus Expeditor will be available once the product is released at the end of 2006.

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