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Subject: NEWS: Personalization Software for Linux Announced
To: lwn@lwn.net
From: TTalman@Brodeur.com
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 10:09:51 -0500



                                     Public Relations Contacts:
                                     Tim Breuer
                                     914-766-1711
                                     breuer@us.ibm.com

            IBM Brings Personalization Software to Linux Environment
           Key e-marketing Software Now Runs on Open Operating System

Somers, NY, January 24, 2000 . . . IBM today announced Linux*-based
software that enables businesses to deliver personalized marketing messages
to customers on the Internet.  The announcement is IBM's latest initiative
to support Linux throughout its portfolio of e-business software, servers
and services.

Using IBM's WebSphere** Personalization software businesses can:
   Build tailored Web pages that attract, engage and retain users;
   Understand and predict user preferences; and
   Differentiate a Web site from competitor sites quickly and efficiently.

According to IDC, Linux became the number two operating system in 1999 in
new server shipments with 1.3 million licenses and anticipates Linux to
remain the  fastest growing server operating system thru 2004, with a
compound annual growth rate of 28 percent from 2000 - 2004.  The market
opportunity for software on Linux is expected to grow even faster, with
relational database servers expected to increase from $30 million in 2000
to $3.4 billion in 2004, a compound annual growth rate of 226%.

"With today's announcement, we're able to deliver software that allows
companies to engage their customers over the Web, which is a powerful
business tool," said Ed Harbour, director of marketing,  WebSphere software
platform, IBM.  "IBM's WebSphere Personalization allows businesses to
develop, deploy and update personalized data quickly on various platforms,
including Linux-- the fastest growing operating system in the industry."

WebSphere offers the only product family that contains all of the
following:
   WebSphere Studio, Web site development tools;
   WebSphere Personalization, to tailor Web content to each site visitor's
   interests using business rules technology, and Macromedia LikeMinds
   collaborative filtering technology;
   WebSphere Site Analyzer, to analyze users' attraction to site content to
   optimize a site's personalization strategy; and
   WebSphere Application Server v3.5, to provide a Web environment that can
   quickly adapt to volume changes without losing critical transaction
   information.  As businesses expand, WebSphere allows for easy
   integration with additional e-commerce applications and existing legacy
   business systems.

WebSphere Application Servers are the foundation of the WebSphere software
platform, which is Internet infrastructure software that enables businesses
to  develop, host, run and integrate e-business applications.  According to
Giga Information Group, the market opportunity in this area is $1.6 billion
this year and will  grow to $9 billion by 2003.  WebSphere Application
Server, Standard and Advanced Editions v3.5, were made available for Linux
operating systems on December 15.  With today's announcement, WebSphere
Personalization supports deployment on Linux of personalized e-business
applications ranging from Web publishing through high-volume Web
transactions typical of business-to-business e-marketplaces.

The previous release of WebSphere Personalization, v3.5, included in one
product both rules-based personalization as well as a recommendation engine
which utilizes LikeMinds collaborative filtering technology from
Macromedia.  In the latest release of WebSphere Personalization, v3.5.2,
the recommendation engine is now available on AIX, further broadening a
site owner's choices of operating environment.

Additionally, in Personalization v3.5.2 the rules-based personalization
capabilities have been extended to allow the personalization strategy to be
based upon what is occurring during a visitor's tour of a site.  Sample
uses of these new functions can include monitoring what site content has
been viewed or what has been placed in a shopping cart application by a
site visitor.  This allows the site's personalization strategy to capture
more fully the interests of each site visitor and therefore more accurately
select content that will be useful and interesting to the visitor.  This
can help attract and retain visitors to a site.

Pricing and Availability
WebSphere Personalization for Multiplatforms v3.5.2 is available worldwide
on January 26, 2001 for Linux, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Windows 2000 and
Windows NT operating systems.  The WebSphere Personalization for
Multiplatforms v3.5.2 rule engine and resource engine will support Linux,
AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Windows  2000 and Windows NT operating systems.  The
recommendation engine will support AIX, Solaris, Windows 2000 and Windows
NT operating systems.  A release of WebSphere Personalization for the
OS/400 environment which includes recommendation engine support of AIX is
planned for availability at a future date.  The distributions of Linux
supported are Red Hat 6.2, Caldera 2.3 e-Server, TurboLinux 6.0, and SuSE
6.4.  WebSphere Personalization for Multiplatforms v3.5.2  supports SuSE
6.4 on the S/390.

WebSphere Personalization sells for $10,000 per processor.

About IBM's (NYSE: IBM) WebSphere Software
WebSphere is Internet infrastructure software -- known as middleware --
that enables companies to develop, deploy and integrate next-generation
e-business  applications, such as those for business-to-business
e-commerce.  WebSphere supports business applications from simple Web
publishing through enterprise-
scale transaction processing.  WebSphere transforms the way businesses
manage customer, partner and employee relationships.  More information
about the  WebSphere software platform is on the Web at
http://www.ibm.com/websphere and at
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/webservers/personalization.

About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of
leadership in helping businesses innovate.  IBM Software offers the widest
range of  applications, middleware and operating systems for all types of
computing platforms, allowing customers to take full advantage of the new
era of e-business.  The fastest way to get more information about IBM
software or solutions for Linux is through the Internet at:
http://www.ibm.com/linux.

                                   # # #

* Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
** Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation.
All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their
respective owners.