FYI: IBM beefs up Apache package

[Magnus Bodin <ma...@lists.bodin.org>]

FYI: 

>From  http://www.sunworld.com/swol-10-1998/swol-10-apache.html

IBM beefs up Apache package 

Big Blue hopes to break into new markets by enhancing the popular freeware 

By Steven Brody         October  1998 


San Francisco (October 14, 1998) -- IBM announced today the availability of 
several new additions to its WebSphere Web server product line, which is 
bundled with the Apache open-source HTTP server software. The new additions 
include technology for increasing Apache's speed by up to three times, 
IBM SSL encryption technology runningn on top of Apache, and a version of 
Apache for IBM's AS/400 line of midrange servers. These releases mark the 
first new products IBM has offered with Apache, since its high-profile 
adoption of the freeware in June, and analysts say they will help Big Blue's 
WebSphere e-commerce package to crack new markets for Apache. 

The porting of Apache to IBM's AS/400 servers represents a major new market 
for Apache, according to Martin Marshall, an analyst at Zona Research. 

"The AS/400 market is a huge opportunity for Apache," said Marshall. 
"AS/400 sales measure in the billions of dollars for IBM every year, and it
has traditionally been a very isolated market, which is why it wasn't the 
original platform for the Apache releases. A couple of years ago there
was only one third-party vendor Web server software for that hardware, now 
there's Netscape and Apache." 

The new version of the software will also be distribited as open-source. 

In larger Web application systems, an HTTP server running Apache would sit 
between the user's browser and the application server,
communicating data from the server, which handles the interface between the 
Web and mainframes and workstations in the backend. 

Apache was developed by a disperse group of programmers and has achieved 
widespread popularity since its first release in 1995. An October
1998 survey conducted by Netcraft showed that Apache is the Web server 
software of choice for more than 50 percent of the market. Apache
was described by Marshall as almost bug-free. "It's the cockroach that has 
survived the nuclear war," he said. 

Apache's entrance into the AS/400 market may represent another blow to 
Netscape, said Marshall, which suffered when IBM first announced its
intent to bundle Apache with WebSphere in June. Netscape had originally been 
working with IBM and was hoping the Netscape HTTP server
software would become the cornerstone of IBM's WebSphere. Netscape presently 
has software ported to AS/400. 

The AS/400 market consists largely of midsize businesses, but Apache has the 
most work to do with large enterprises who have been more
reluctant to use the freeware. 

Nigel Beck, IBM's program director for WebSphere market management, said that 
the primary barrier between large enterprises and Apache was
the absence of the guaranteed support which IBM now provides. The IBM name
and 
reputation, said Beck, will make the difference. 

IBM will now also offer its own SSL encryption program to run on Apache, 
another move designed to dress-up the adopted child for large
corporate parties. Previously, SSL was available for Apache, but only from 
third-party vendors who, said IBM, cannot distribute the technology as
easily as Big Blue, which doesn't face any sticky international licensing 
issues. 

The SSL will be delivered to customers in binary. 

In addition to porting to AS/400 and adding its own SSL technology, IBM 
announced the release of its so-called Fast Response Cache
Accelerater (FRCA) which it says can boost Apache's speed by two to three 
times. FRCA will be made available first for Windows NT, and will be
delivered 
as source code. 

"Faster speeds?" said Marshall. "No one's going to complain about that." 

All of the new releases will be available by year-end and have not yet been 
priced.


- --
magnus bodin
 http://bodin.org/  **  http://åäö.x42.com/  **  http://www.altameter.com/

Re: FYI: IBM beefs up Apache package

[James Morris <jm...@intercode.com.au>]

On Thu, 15 Oct 1998, Magnus Bodin wrote:

> >From  http://www.sunworld.com/swol-10-1998/swol-10-apache.html
> 
> IBM will now also offer its own SSL encryption program to run on Apache, 
> another move designed to dress-up the adopted child for large
> corporate parties. Previously, SSL was available for Apache, but only from 
> third-party vendors who, said IBM, cannot distribute the technology as
> easily as Big Blue, which doesn't face any sticky international licensing 
> issues. 

Such as exporting 128-bit encryption?

> The SSL will be delivered to customers in binary. 

Why?
 

- James.
--
James Morris
<jm...@intercode.com.au>