IBM AND MACROMEDIA FORM STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO ACCELERATE E-BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Companies will ease development and deployment of personalized e-business applications
Somers, New York, and San Francisco, California -- May 30, 2000 IBM (NYSE:
IBM) and Macromedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR), today announced a multi-faceted agreement that will bring IBM's Web development and deployment platform to Macromedia customers, integrate Macromedia's Web development software into the WebSphere(TM)software platform, and license Macromedia(R)LikeMinds(TM) Personalization Server for use in future releases of IBM WebSphere product offerings.
The objective of the multi-year agreement including product bundles, product integration and joint marketing efforts, is to give customers a comprehensive Web development and deployment environment based on IBM's WebSphere product offerings, while delivering on the Macromedia Web Content Lifecycle.
The IBM WebSphere software platform offers customers a powerful development and deployment environment for next-generation e-business applications. The Macromedia Web Content Lifecycle helps eliminate difficulties enterprises face in integrating point solutions to build, manage, personalize, and analyze dynamic Web content while engaging customers on complex, business-critical Web sites.
Under the agreement, IBM will license and distribute Macromedia LikeMinds Personalization Server as an integrated component of future versions of WebSphere product offerings, including WebSphere Commerce Suite(TM). This licensing and distribution agreement will bring LikeMinds patented collaborative filtering personalization technology to IBM WebSphere Platform users, helping them engage Web visitors and improve online results with highly accurate product and content recommendations.
In addition, Macromedia will license and distribute a developer version of the IBM WebSphere Application Server with its market-leading visual Web content authoring platforms, Macromedia Dreamweaver(R) and the newly announced Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev(TM). Dreamweaver UltraDev enables visual authoring of JavaServer Pages as fully supported by IBM's WebSphere platform.
IBM will also provide extensions to further integrate the Dreamweaver UltraDev development platform with IBM's WebSphere Studio, providing Macromedia developers a complete Java-based team programming solution and an out-of-the-box application server development and deployment environment based on IBM WebSphere.
Also, IBM will bundle trial versions of Macromedia Flash(TM), Freehand(R), Director(R), and Fireworks(R) with every copy of the WebSphere Studio.
"This partnership will deliver additional capabilities to companies in building, deploying and personalizing dynamic Web content when building business-critical Web sites that power an e-business" said Paraic Sweeney, vice president, Business Transformation, IBM.
"IBM and Macromedia together deliver a comprehensive offering that moves beyond point products to address the complete Web Content Lifecycle, providing customers with a multi-faceted solution to engage and retain customers on their high-end, mission-critical e-commerce sites," said Stephen Elop, senior vice president and general manager for Macromedia. "The synergies between the joint solutions will provide IBM and Macromedia customers with a robust solution for all of their critical e-business needs, from content design to delivery and personalization."
ABOUT MACROMEDIA LIKEMINDS, DREAMWEAVER AND DREAMWEAVER ULTRADEV Macromedia LikeMinds Personalization Server combines industry-leading accuracy with unmatched, real-time performance to engage Web visitors and improve online results. Macromedia Dreamweaver is the platform of choice for professional Web site design and production, and commands a 70 percent market share among professional Web developers. Dreamweaver UltraDev, announced May 8, is built on the core architecture of Dreamweaver and is the first application to allow developers, programmers, and designers to visually create and edit data-driven Web applications for multiple server platforms.
ABOUT IBM WEBSPHERE
IBM WebSphere's customizable family of products provides the industry's most scalable e-business software foundation and application services, and delivers a flexible and open platform on which to build next-generation e-business applications. Based on WebSphere Application Server, the WebSphere family supports business applications from simple Web publishing through enterprise-scale transaction processing. Through modular, integrated application services, such as Lotus Domino for rich collaboration capabilities and WebSphere Commerce Suite for high-performance, scalable commerce sites, the WebSphere family transforms the way businesses manage customer, partner and employee relationships. Tightly integrated business and web content development tools and Web site management capabilities deliver the most advanced and productive end-to-end application development, deployment and integration for sophisticated e-business solutions.
Information
about the complete WebSphere product line is on the Web at http://www.software.ibm.com/websphere.
ABOUT MACROMEDIA
Macromedia's mission is to add life to the Web. Our award-winning products empower developers to provide the most engaging experience on the Web and enable more effective e-business. Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia
(NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 1000 employees worldwide and is available on the Internet at http://www.macromedia.com.
ABOUT IBM CORPORATION
IBM is the worlds 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 is through the IBM Software home page at http://www.ibm.com/software/.
Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Macromedia, LikeMinds, Dreamweaver, UltraDev, Flash, FreeHand, Director, and Fireworks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. as indicated. Other company names, brand names and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of others.
Gabriela Barragan
User Group Programs Specialist
Phone:415.553.2754 | Fax:415.626.0554