WebSphere Revolution

Division team once again went to work. “We took the Net.Commerce product that had been written on C++ and moved it over to WebSphere Application Server,” explains Robert LeBlanc, then Lab Director for IBM Toronto. “Then we started to see other capabilities and other ways to use the technology and decided that WebSphere is more than just an application server.” In 2000, Net.Commerce joined the WebSphere family as WebSphere Commerce Suite—one of the first products to leverage the strength of the WebSphere Application Server platform. This was a pivotal decision in the evolution of the WebSphere brand WebSphere was not just an application server anymore. While IBM was as strong as ever with its traditional hardware customer base, IBM was not known as a software company, much less a company that could help customers build e-commerce function into their Websites. So Steve Mills tapped Sandy Carter, then working in an IBM hardware division, at a dinner one night and asked her to join the Software Division and help with the marketing of WebSphere. Sandy’s answer, “What’s WebSphere?” Steve explained that it was a new software brand they were creating and he wanted Sandy to come over and help them manage e-commerce. Sandy agreed and immediately started adding her unique marketing touch to the project. They began focusing on WebSphere as an outward facing brand through the commerce portfolio. It was a highly energized environment because the Internet commerce was beginning to absolutely explode and IBM had just the product that was needed in WebSphere Commerce. Their strategy was to highlight the success of highly-visible WebSphere Commerce customers to showcase the WebSphere brand as an Internet engine that was driving Early WebSphere Business Partner Perficient Since 1998, Perficient has been delivering successful business-driven technology solutions for hundreds of Global 2000 and other large enterprise customers. Perficient got on board with IBM and WebSphere from the very beginning. Since that time, it has grown from a startup to a publicly-traded firm with more than 1,500 full-time professionals serving clients from a network of 18 offices in North America and three offshore locations, in Eastern Europe, India, and China. Perficient is an award-winning “Premier Level” IBM Business Partner and a recognized expert in IBM’s WebSphere software. They have received multiple IBM awards including the Information Management North American Distinguished Partner Award, the Lotus North American Distinguished Partner of the Year, the Business Partner Leadership Award, and the IBM Americas Business Partner Leadership Award. They are a “Value Advantage Plus 5-Star Partner,” a coveted honor granted to just five IBM Business Partners worldwide. “WebSphere has been an important contributor to Perficient’s business since its very first release. Over the years, we’ve been inspired by the maturation of the product and appreciative of the growth and value it has brought to our clients and our firm.” —John Jenkins, Perficient’s Vice-President of IBM Field Operations More on the Web • Perficient Website 29 http://www.perficient.com/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of WebSphere Revolution

WebSphere Revolution Table of Contents The Rise of Internet Business WebSphere Takes the Stage WebSphere Application Server Evolves Beyond the Application Server WebSphere and On Demand Business New Flexibility through SOA An Eye Toward the Future

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