IBM to launch Whirlwind clone at Lotusphere?
Tags :Lotusphere mobile WAS websphere BlackBerry iOS Android BYOD
While reading the filtered streams yesterday I came across a hint (and screenshot) that we will see Whirlwind presented in more light at Lotusphere 2012. Here is some information on Whirlwind before my thoughts.
From some articles I found dating back to early 2011, Whirlwind has about 4000 downloads a month internally from IBM employees. Employees can view the most downloaded and best rated apps in the catalog. Whirlwind started in 2009 and fully launched in September 2010. it runs on WAS, DB2 and some Dojo coding to help build what includes roles as to what can be downloaded.
iPad screenshot courtesy of ArsTechnica.
A case study PDF is available for anyone to download from IBM that covers how many users have accessed, the number of downloads they saw and how the BlackBerry was their first officially supported device.
The community has debated for some time about the viability of an application store for Lotus Notes. I see this as not just a Notes catalog idea from IBM, but a mobile and plug-in based catalog that you deploy for your users. They are able to browse and install just about anything, even for those that bring their own device (BYOD) to work.
It only makes sense that IBM would then productize this offering, as they often do. Take IBM Connections which started as the IBM Bluepages internally. With all of the devices and the current push into believing everything should be mobile by IBM, a catalog to support deployment falls into place. It runs on the same back end type systems as IBM Connections and Sametime 8.5.x so there is easier understanding of requirements and needs.
IBM's CTO of Mobility was interviewed in this Computer News Middle East article and had a few good summaries:
“By the end of the year, 100,000 IBM employees will be able to connect handheld devices of their choosing to IBM’s internal networks, which have recently been fortified to provide enhanced mobile security,” Bodin said. “Another 100,000 employees will be brought on board in 2012, for a total of 200,000 people, or about half of IBM’s global workforce,” he added.
“We’ve noticed BYOD and the consumerisation of IT , with devices now becoming more and more proficient,” said Bodin, a 24-year IBM veteran who started as a staff programmer. “At IBM, it’s not exactly the BYOD metaphor. Rather, we are taking steps to fortify the infrastructure and device management — all the way to agents on the phone itself — to guarantee that the phone has not been hacked or jail-broken, and that the phone, with integrity, can attach to our network.”
So I am eager to see if this gets branded with some new name and made available as a product at Lotusphere 2012 for enterprises to install to better support BYOD initiatives. As well as bringing the idea of an application store to internal users.
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On Thursday, December 8th, 2011 by Chris Miller
