The System i Initiative for Innovation is designed to foster growth of new, innovative solutions for customers – unleashing the combined talents of IBM and IBM ISVs to help enable business growth for our mutual customers. During this two years, hundreds of ISVs embarked on a journey with IBM to enhance and extend their applications to meet tomorrow's business challenges. The result – a revitalized and innovative System i solutions portfolio.
The System i Initiative for Innovation will continue to provide ISVs with a rich set of enablement and go-to-market resources to help ISVs expand their solutions portfolio, reach new markets and support more customers. The key result of this effort is continuing to enable our customers to be more competitive, more responsive, and to grow their business.
ISVs
"With its leading position in the Banking sector, IBM and its System i5 Initiative for Innovation is the logical partner for Actimize as we continue to grow our Banking solutions business. We have an entire set of customers who want the Actimize fraud prevention and regulatory compliance solutions to be compatible with the iSeries platform. We've been very pleased with the support we've received from the System i5 team as we complete the testing and certification process. From joint marketing through business planning, the IBM team's dedication and expertise gives us confidence that our relationship will lead to new opportunities and wins in the market place, and most of all, help us deliver value to our customers."
— Ron Greenberg - EVP Marketing and Business Development
Actimize, Inc
ADVANCED BusinessLink (France)
"Our company, Advanced BusinessLink has grown with the System i5 platform. Like everyone in the iSeries community, we particularly appreciate the performance, security, robustness and that is why we recommend the System i5 platform in the marketplace. Advanced BusinessLink focuses our development efforts to modernize applications running on the System i5.
We have released a complete modernization suite for System i5, called STRATEGI. Starting from their existing legacy skills, STRATEGI is the tool for iSeries developers, to take their applications to the latest web, wireless, and all the emerging technologies, and this, in record time. In this way, we keep applications on the System i5 platform for good. By joining the System i5 Initiative for Innovation program, a very good initiative from IBM, Advanced BusinessLink France will continue to give its dedicated commitment to the System i5 community."
— Alexandre Meiffredy - General Manager
ADVANCED BusinessLink
"BlueWare has found the IBM System i5 Initiative for Innovation to be emphatically beneficial in several areas. The Initiative for Innovation has helped our Research and Development team by offering classes and hand-on experience with new technology, for example with XML, Java, and WebSphere Portal. They have allowed us to be very aware of new advancements, keeping up well equipped as an ISV. BlueWare is excited about the Academic Initiative plans to expand to new industries. Overall, the IBM Initiative for Innovation has proved to be progressive in teaming with the ISVs and obtaining profitable results."
— Rose Harr - President and CEO
BlueWare
Business Computer Design Int'l, Inc
"IBM's commitment to the System i5 platform as demonstrated in their System i5 Initiative for Innovation program has given the marketplace a great boost of confidence. This has allowed BCD to grow its business, including WebSmart iSeries - Web Development tool sales, by over 20% in the past 12 months, as well as add 40+ new Business Partners to our network.
IBM's System i5 server enables our clients to run our software on the smallest to the largest iSeries system without adding complexity. Our clients now have even greater reliability, flexibility and security than ever before. With our experience of having over 1,000 iSeries organizations develop Web applications with BCD's WebSmart, and 2,500+ developing applications with ProGen Plus, I can safely say we have been truly satisfied.
We love what IBM has done with the value proposition of the platform and the continued i5/OS enhancements as found in V5R4. The majority of our clients are SMBs, however we also cater to many of the largest including Universal Music Int'l, Formica, Canadian Kawasaki, Hickory Farms and more. They all continue to express their highest level of satisfaction in our software technology and the System i5. I commend IBM for their continued commitment in delivering an excellent operating system and hardware platform."
— Eric F. Figura - Director of Sales and Marketing
BCD
"The flexible workflow model supported by jGORich is very impressive during sales presentations. Our customers are happier, because their learning curve is shorter and our support role is lessened. We also now have a larger prospect base, as most ERP evaluators do not worry about server platforms, provided that the user interface meets their expectations. We are winning more business, with shorter sales cycles. And, thanks to the System i5 platform, our clients enjoy the best of both worlds: flexible and friendly user interfaces and a rock-solid platform."
— Brian Angle - Vice President of sales & marketing
CMS Software
Coglin Mill, Developers of RODIN System i5 ETL
"Due to the synergistic support of System i5 Initiative for Innovation program and the System i5 brand - business partners, IBM and Coglin Mill are all more competitive in delivering data warehouse solutions to System i5 customers. The payoffs include: More consulting opportunities for business partners, increased workloads on System i5 systems, and new license sales for Coglin Mill." Specifically, we've added seamless support for IBM WebSphere Information Integrator; this enables System i5 customers to improve data integrity, reduce programming time and be more responsive by easily gathering data from multiple, disparate systems and consolidating it on the System i5 platform."
Coglin Mill's RODIN will run on i5/OS V5R4 at GA date.
— Pete Wangen - Sales & Marketing Director
Coglin Mill
"By rewriting the APIs in Java, we were able to standardize the integration points between CWDirect and our other solutions, not to mention the way we pass data between applications. That has enabled us to reduce the development and testing hours required for API maintenance by 50 percent."
— Jane Cannon - Vice President of Research and Development
CommercialWare
"Last year, a mutual customer of IBM and ecom WEBfactory® mentioned IBM's renewed commitment to iSeries ISVs and the various types of support available. At that point, we had no relationship with IBM but decided to contact IBM and started using some of the ISV support offerings available through the Initiative for Innovation. For example, we received thorough support while migrating and testing the code and dedicated attention on our requests. We now have a solution, ecom WEBfactory, that can help customers analyze weak points in their production processes more quickly and run their production processes more profitably."
— Bernhard Böhrer - Managing Director
ecom WEBfactory GmbH
"The System i5 team helped us to market the Sovereign Finance and banking software as a reliable solution which could be deployed more quickly. The renewed ISV support from the IBM Innovation Initiative has resulted in IBM and FiNZsoft working more closely to develop joint market opportunities, especially in Australia."
— Barrie Shannon - CEO
FINZsoft
"Golden Key selected the iSeries system as the leading platform for their IMAS software because iSeries provides the tight integration that has helped us implement our solutions at a very attractive price point for clients. We leveraged the IBM System i5 Initiative for Innovation to build a new web-faced user interface to our proven back-end solution which would help us market the ERP application more effectively. We've renewed our marketing effort and are reaching out to new markets like SMB retail."
— Suramya Karunaratne - CEO
Golden Key
"I estimate that 90 percent of our sales for the last year would never have closed were it not for our modernization effort."
— Lane Nelson - President
HarrisData
"Today, System i5 should not be considered as a proprietary development platform anymore, for most new applications built on top of it are developed using J2EE. Instead, System i5 should be viewed as a consolidation platform that can replace multiple Linux and Windows servers with a single server running i5/OS. When five boxes turn into one, support and maintenance costs go down. The technologist in me does not get really excited by that alone, but the entrepreneur does."
— Ismael Ghalimi - CEO
Intalio
"Intech chose to port to the System i5 platform to tap key opportunities seen across the many iSeries customers. The IBM Innovation Centre worked closely with us to test and certify our product on this solid platform. We are now working with the System i5 brand to market our product to this vital customer base."
— Terry Goodman
Intech Solutions
itecs (Information Technology System Co., LTD)
"We had been receiving customer requests to bring our Windows and Linux-based solution to the iSeries. With support from the System i5. Initiative for Innovation we ported our Java-based solution, ePro_Staff to iSeries platform in 30 days. Customers can easily integrate our Web-based human resource application to their existing application, which enables them to manage their system more easily."
— Toshio Seki - President & COO
itecs
"LANSA is pleased to be part of IBM System i5 Initiative for Innovation program and to have assisted many iSeries shops in their quest to modernize, extend and integrate their existing legacy applications. We see the new System i5 announcements as being an important continuation of the core values that IBM offers to the midrange market, ie, cost effective reliability and scalability.
Our flagship product, LANSA 2005, provides iSeries and System i5 customers with the tools to quickly develop and deploy Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) based applications."
— John Siniscal - President
LANSA
"Prospective customers look at our graphical interfaces and are immediately more receptive to our solution than they were in the past. As a result, we are now receiving four times the number of inquiries from prospects than we received before we modernized."
— Don Savoie - Director of Technology
Lavendar & Wyatt Systems
"By modernizing our software and creating our architecture for modernizing client's applications, our active client base has tripled in the last two years."
— Ludo Dierckx - CEO
L.D. Consulting
Magic Software Enterprises, Inc.
"The 2006 System i5 announcement from IBM is particularly appealing to ISVs like Magic Software Enterprises as we seek to promote solutions innovation through the System i5 Tools Innovation Program. The new integration enhancements now make it even easier for our iBOLT and eDeveloper tools to provide native i5/OS business process integration and development solutions that enhance business value for supply chain, compliance and modernization initiatives across the enterprise."
— Glenn Johnson - Executive Vice President
Magic Software Enterprises
"Since 1991, M&I Systems, Co. has been an IBM-oriented company and has based our products and services on IBM's great technology. M&I Systems, Co. has developed ERP applications for most platforms in IBM product line. However three years ago after learning more about iSeries and this leading server architecture we have developed totally new ERP software based on iSeries using multi-tier architecture and Java platform. In our opinion and the opinion of our clients, this is one of the most competitive, reliable, stable and flexible environments in the market. Our entry into the ASP market and our growing customer base has made us even more certain that we are going in the right direction. Thanks to collaboration with iSeries, today M&I Systems, Co. has its applications running on the state of the art iSeries platform - making us a key player in the region."
— Vladan Balaban - CEO
M&I Systems, Co.
"NetIQ's Risk and Compliance Solutions provide a comprehensive security, configuration and vulnerability management support for IBM's System i5™ family. Ever since the earlier versions of our iSeries products, NetIQ has taken every opportunity to expand its partnership with IBM to deliver quality and industry-respected solutions for the iSeries and the System i5 platform. The IBM System i5 Initiative for Innovation program has helped NetIQ continue to develop its award-winning solutions for iSeries, while also helping ensure NetIQ's solutions are current with the latest version of the i5/OS.
For example, as a member of the V5R4 beta program," he continues, "NetIQ has been working to ensure its iSeries solutions continue to support the security and availability of its iSeries customers around the globe when they move forward with the deployment of this exciting new version of i5/OS. NetIQ is excited and committed to continuing our support of the System i5 and i5/OS."
— Matt Dircks - Senior Vice President, Products
NetIQ
NTT Data Intramart Corporation (Japanese Only)
"With intra-mart, System i5 customers can easily develop web-based solutions system and integrate them with existing iSeries Applications. Intra-mart with System i5 also helps customers integrate to a single server and realize cost savings. With help from the System i5 Initiative for Innovation, we were able to accelerate our solution testing for one of our clients, an international automotive company in Japan."
— Yoshihito Nakayama - President-CEO
NTT Data Intramart Corporation
"Provenir has been in business since 1992, and with its software, the company maintains platform independence. A test of whether or not it would run on the iSeries was triggered recently by a sales effort to close a major, multinational financial institution in Asia. In order to win the business, Provenir had to certify that its product did, indeed, run on the iSeries — the platform of choice for that customer.
That's when we approached the System i5 Initiative for Innovation. We took a little over a week to install the software and perform our regression tests. The process went very smoothly and we were able to certify on the iSeries without making any code changes to our software. This is a testament to Java and to the implementation of Java on the iSeries.
We believe the Provenir solution on the new System i5 platform is a winning combination for our customers that are balancing the desire for robust decisioning across the customer life cycle in a reliable and secure environment against the need to lower IT costs and expedite implementations."
— Brett Norton - Vice President, Development and Architecture
Provenir
"Core to the Reva Systems message is that — for RFID to be truly useful to the enterprise -- deployments must take place in the context of a company's existing hardware, networking, integration, and application investments. Our appliance, The Reva TAP, makes it easy for to retailers, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and others to get started with and to scale RFID. However, all of the high-quality data we extract from a facility doesn't deliver value in a vacuum; it must be made reliably available to core enterprise applications (ERP, SCM, WMS, etc) that have long been hosted on iSeries.
"The IBM System i5 Initiative for Innovation allowed us to quickly validate our product's interoperability and fit within iSeries, Linux, Java, DB2 and WebSphere solutions for key customer use cases. The IBM team made every resource available to Reva, including comprehensive planning sessions, dialogue with product and solution specialists, access to their Innovation Center for iSeries port testing, ongoing project management, even introductions to CTC software development resources when it came time to demonstrate deeper interoperability between our technologies. The results: We're now moving on to joint customer outreach, confident in the fit between our companies, articulate about our joint value prop, and ready to solve real-world RFID challenges together."
— Michael Miskovsky - Vice President, Business Development
Reva Systems
Resolution Software Consultants Ltd.
"We've been with iSeries platform since 1988. The IBM System i5 platform always has provided us with good support and constantly introduces new functions and features for developers to keep us competitive with the market. We initially developed our solution base on RPG. With the introduction of HATS and Web Facing, and the support of the System i5 Initiative for Innovation, we modernized our solution with a graphical user interface. As a solution partner, our main goal is to continue integrating our solutions into the latest iSeries technologies and help our clients stay competitive in their markets."
— Cadia Ho - Managing Director
RSC Co Ltd.
"The iSeries team has helped us to successfully deploy Silverlake Universal Banking application in extremely large banks. Our customers wanted to update their applications and still benefit from the reliability, security and performance expected from iSeries . With help from the iSeries Initiative for Innovation, we were able to develop a Java based thin-client application optimized for the iSeries and deliver it to our clients in a very short period of time."
— Goh Peng Ooi - Chairman & CEO
Silverlake Group
"We are certain that combining iStudy Enterprise Server and IBM iSeries platforms produces a powerful E-Learning solution. This combined solution can support companies in nurturing personnel cost effectively. The great support from the IBM iSeries Initiatives for Innovation assisted us in making our solution available on the iSeries family."
— Hidenori Matsuoka - CEO
System Technology-i.Co., Ltd.
"We had been providing customized MONEY applications for the iSeries platform for many years. We decided to modify our business model and provide a standard solution that we could offer to clients at a lower price. Through the System i5 Initiative for Innovation, we were able to web-enable our MONEY application faster than we expected. This 20-day turnaround gave us a significant advantage. Our 'Company Concept MONEY for iSeries' delivers accounting, human resource, and payroll applications."
— Teizo China - CEO
Works Products Co. Ltd
"Vormittag Associates Inc. has been developing and implementing software solutions as an IBM Premier Business Partner for over 20 years. VAI relies on IBM's programs such as the System i5 Initiative for Innovation to guide, support, and provide technology which extends itself to our customer's continued growth. Technology moves at a rapid pace and our customers' expectations is that VAI's software will continually grow their business. VAI's objective is to develop innovative and progressive applications to meet those expectations. By taking advantage of the workshops, hands-on testing and support of new tools, VAI has been able to deliver and deploy faster and smarter business."
— Karen Di Mora - Director of Marketing
Vormittag Associates, Inc.
