JD Edwards standardises collaborative business applications on IBM infrastructure technology

JD Edwards & Co recently announced it will standardise its collaborative business applications, known as JD Edwards 5, on IBM`s infrastructure technology or "middleware".

JD Edwards` open, standards-based business applications running on IBM`s open infrastructure technology will enable customers to develop and implement solutions for managing a broad array of enterprise business processes, customer relationships, their supply chains and other business-to-business collaboration processes more flexibly across different computing platforms. These are key requirements for customers in the mid-market to mid-cap market.

JD Edwards 5 applications will be pre-integrated with IBM`s WebSphere Application Server and Portal with embedded security, Lotus collaboration tools, and DB2 Universal Database (DB2 UDB). JD Edwards 5 includes a rich set of applications: enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management, supplier relationship management and business intelligence.

"JD Edwards has made a bold decision to standardise our applications on IBM`s industry-leading infrastructure technology," said Bob Dutkowsky, chairman, president and CEO, JD Edwards. "This combination creates the industry`s most comprehensive, pre-integrated package of applications and infrastructure technology based on open, industry-standard technologies. It provides customers lower total cost-of-ownership over time than any competitive offering and sets the standard for ease-of-use, including rapid implementation, easier integration and maintenance, and easy, portal-based accessibility to end users."

JD Edwards chose IBM`s infrastructure technology after reviewing competitive offerings from all major "middleware" vendors. "We chose IBM because they are the clear market leader in open infrastructure technology, offer unmatched market presence and depth of development resources, and have been a trusted partner with JD Edwards since our company`s inception 25 years ago," said Dutkowsky.

The benefits of reduced cost, ease of implementation and application portability achieved through open standards are important to all customers but especially for those in the mid-market to mid-cap sector, a key area of focus for all technology vendors that is projected to grow to $150 billion in the next few years according to AMI-Partners, a New York City-based IT consulting firm.

"This pre-integrated package of open JD Edwards software and IBM infrastructure technology will enable Katz Pharmacy Services Inc (formerly Drug Trading Company) to get to the application functionality and business process benefits much faster, with less time and money spent on integration," said Grant Schwartz, vice president, Information Technology, Katz Pharmacy Services Inc. "This combination is 'one-stop-shopping` for open applications and infrastructure technology, with pre-integrated simplicity for customer implementations."

"We believe there is strong value in the ease-of-use benefits inherent in this pre-integrated software and infrastructure technology package and expect that, over time, AMF`s total cost of ownership will be reduced," said Rohana Meade, director of IT, AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc. "Decreasing time-to-delivery to leverage our open JD Edwards applications is key to achieving rapid time-to-value."

"This agreement underscores our customers` demand for open software that will run across a variety of computing systems -- unlike other proprietary approaches," said Steve Mills, senior vice-president and group executive, IBM Software. "The combination of industry leading, open applications and infrastructure technology from JD Edwards and IBM will enable mid-market to mid-cap customers to develop e-business solutions faster and more efficiently."

The joint package will run on all vendor technologies that JD Edwards currently supports including Microsoft Windows and Unix environments from IBM, HP, Sun and Unisys, and the IBM eServer iSeries. JD Edwards will continue to offer customers integration and interoperability via its XPI (eXtended Process Integration) solution using webMethods technologies. JD Edwards and IBM support Web services and the open J2EE standard for e-commerce, enabling customers to leverage solutions based on these technologies to gain competitive advantage.

JD Edwards and IBM will share sales leads and develop joint marketing programs in support of the integrated software and infrastructure technology package, with JD Edwards delivering it in phases beginning in early 2003. In addition, JD Edwards and IBM are establishing an Integration Centre to validate and certify various J2EE compliant hardware configurations of the collaborative business software and infrastructure technology offerings.