In a recent industry analyst briefing and press release, IBM announced the latest Express Advantage offerings that span the IBM product, service, and financing continuum and are designed for the SMB. While the IBM Built on Express program has been around for several years and recently surpassed the 500 mark of generally available Built on Express offerings, Express Advantage was just announced at the PartnerWorld 2006 conference.
Noteworthy is the fact that Express Advantage is a tri-partite program encompassing the following:
- Offerings designed to address specific business and industry vertical requirements
- More extensive and extended Business Partner channels to provide customers with local Business Partners with whom they can work
- Enhanced marketing efforts to improve the customer experience for both new and existing customers
Moreover, Express Advantage also combines innovative financing solutions from IBM Global Financing (IGF) and seeks to provide a consolidated SMB view to customers. At PartnerWorld 2006, IBM announced the IBM Express Concierge service that provides one door into Express—1-877-IBM-Access—and it is currently available.
So, What's New?
According to the press release, the most recent "Express Advantage offerings include IBM Express Asset Recovery Solutions, IBM System p5 Solution Edition Express for Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, IBM System p5 Solution Edition for Oracle E-Business Suite, IBM System p5 Solution Edition Express for mySAP ERP, IBM System i IP Telephony Express, IBM System x3655, x3200, x3250 Express Models, and IBM Infoprint 1612, 1622, and 1634 Express printers."
A press release last week heralded two new Express midrange storage servers targeted at the telecommunications industry—the DS4700 Express, Models 70-DC and 72-DC.
At the time of the writing of this article, MC eServer Insight has obtained the pricing information shown in the table below. For up-to-date pricing, please either visit the IBM Web site or contact your Business Partner or reseller.
| Express Solution Pricing | |||
| IBM Express Product | Model/Product | Features | Pricing Information |
| System x Express Server Models | x3200 | With Intel Processor | $699 |
| x3250 | One U Form Factor | $829 | |
| x3655 | Two U Form Factor | $2529 | |
| | |||
| Infoprint Printer Models* | IBM 1612 | 32 pp/minute Monochrome | $486 |
| IBM 1622 | 32 pp/minute Monochrome With wireless capability | $631 | |
| IBM 1634 | 24 pp/minute Color (Controlled access to color printing) | $754 | |
| | |||
| IBM System Storage Express Models | DS4700 Express 70 DC | Models will feature different amounts of cache and numbers of host ports | Will start at list prices of $26,100 |
| DS4700 Express 72 DC | Models will feature different amounts of cache and numbers of host ports | Will start at list prices of $52,000 | |
| | |||
| Solution Offerings | | | |
| System p5 Solution Edition | Oracle E-Business Suite | As low as $1970/mo for 36 months** | |
| System p5 Solution Edition Express | Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne | As low as $1870/mo for 36 months** | |
| System p5 Solution Edition Express | MySAP ERP | As low as $3500/mo for 36 months** | |
| IBM System i IP Telephony Express | Priced for 100–1,000 users, can be added to new or existing System i platforms, available in both single- and double-system versions | $31,760 for 100 seats (does not include 3Com handsets). A complete solution with all hardware and software is $69,600 for 100 seats | |
*Configurations can be expanded with additional features that would change the price.
**Monthly charge to take advantage of IGF options. Please see IBM Web site for more details about what the offer includes.
This most recent instantiation of Express Advantage offerings is based on research IBM conducted to better understand customer wants and needs. IBM-sponsored partner councils, customer councils, and market research revealed customer pain points and concerns about how to "remain competitive and innovative," according to the press release, and also how to pay for new products and services.
SMB customers need to improve business agility, "employee productivity, and asset security." They require one-stop shopping and Business Partners that are local and can provide a value-add either through experience and expertise in the specific industry vertical and/or advice and enablement.
Show Me the Money
The announcement also highlighted IGF's IBM Financing Advantage, which is available for IBM Express offerings and solutions. The "Why Wait" promotion enables customers to purchase "IBM hardware such as the IBM System p5 Solution Edition Express now and not make any payments until January of 2007."
In September, IGF "announced that its Rapid Online Financing tool processed its 10,0000th US financing transaction." The Rapid Online Financing tool allows IBM Business Partners or financing associates to complete simple, basic client financing transactions online in less than an hour. Rapid Online Financing also permits SMBs to plan and budget for their IT investments because they can determine their financing options through IGF.
While it has taken some time, IBM's approach to its existing and prospective SMB constituents has evolved considerably. IBM is talking to both SMB customers and Business Partners and is beginning to appreciate that SMBs have unique purchasing characteristics compared with their large-enterprise brethren. The SMBs also phrase their IT and business requirements differently, and, like their large-enterprise counterparts, they also have both strategic and tactical needs. Many SMBs run lean and mean IT shops (tell me this one mo' time) and do not have the luxury to ferret out piecemeal solutions across the vast and complex IBM product and service continuum. The IBM Express Concierge hotline is an excellent starting point for SMBs that want to get a handle on the sometimes-daunting IBM machine.
Vormittag Associates, Inc. Gets a Boost with Express Advantage
Featured in the aforementioned press release was Vormittag Associates, Inc. (VAI). This analyst was fortunate to speak with Vincent Taravella, Director of Channel Sales for VAI.
VAI is a private ISV/reseller that has been in business for 28 years and has been an IBM Business Partner for almost as many years. Its sweet spot was small SMB companies to whom VAI provided ERP software on the System i platform. Taravella points out that becoming an IBM ISV Advantage Member several years ago (and now an IBM Express Advantage member) "took VAI's relationship with IBM to another level."
Under ISV Advantage and now Express Advantage, IBM provides VAI with technology and marketing support as well as mentoring and strategizing. In return, VAI is developing products around IBM middleware, specifically WebSphere Portal Server, and has already built a number of portals and portlets, including a vendor, a customer self-service, a business partner, an executive, and a dealer portlet. The latter enables dealers to register leads via the portlet, check the status, and then download specific campaign materials, a media kit, etc.—all the tools to help them be successful.
As an IBM Express Advantage member, VAI has biweekly meetings with IBM Developer Relations as well as a comprehensive annual planning session.
VAI has evolved significantly from where the company was just seven years ago. VAI was a wholesale—durable and nondurable—ISV and reseller selling to small companies. Today, VAI has a full suite of manufacturing modules, CRM, data warehousing, etc. The company is a full-service ERP supply chain ISV. Taravella says that VAI is "a different company now, with 120 employees." Whereas originally VAI's sweet spot was companies earning roughly $50 million per year in revenue, VAI is selling today to companies in the $200 to $300 million per year revenue range. VAI, Taravella says, is "heading into the 'M' in the SMB and is competing with other Tier 2 and even Tier 1 vendors."
In addition, VAI is expanding its industry vertical net and developing niche products for the food and metals industries and is also beginning to penetrate the healthcare/medical and building materials industries.
Sometimes what attracts Business Partners to IBM is the allure of the monetary investment IBM makes. However, Taravella says that it is the excellent level of mentoring and guidance they are receiving from IBM and the value-add of the relationship that supersedes the monetary investment.
Moreover, VAI is going global—a large but necessary step—and the company knows that IBM will be there not only to help it do business worldwide, but also to provide mentoring about how to do business.
It appears that IBM is listening to its Business Partners and enabling them to enhance their products, expand their geographic coverage, penetrate new industry verticals, and conduct more focused and beneficial marketing campaigns. IBM Express Advantage could be the start of many beautiful Business Partner relationships. MC eServer Insight invites IBM Business Partners to respond to this article and discuss their experiences with IBM.
Maria A. DeGiglio is President of, and Principal Analyst for, Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates, an advisory firm that provides clients with accurate and actionable information on business and technology initiatives. You can reach Ms. DeGiglio at
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online