Avada, IBM Ink OEM Software Deal

Avada Software has signed an agreement to package and deliver its messaging management software on IBM's WebSphere Application Server Community Edition.  

The announcement is part of Big Blue's OEM strategy to partner with ISVs to deliver open-source solutions based on SOAs (service-oriented architectures), said an IBM spokesperson. IBM said its OEM go-to-market strategy can help ISVs generate more revenue and better service their customers. 

Under the agreement, Avada will package and deliver IBM's WAS CE open-source application server software with its own Infrared360 message management software. It will also resell three levels of IBM support for WAS CE, said Brenda Haynes, IBM’s director of WebSphere Open Source Development and Strategy. 

The OEM model can boost partners' revenue by giving them an instant "value-add" for their customers by providing integration and support for both IBM's products and their own, rather than simply reselling a piece of their own software, said Daren Hanson, IBM’s director of worldwide ISV and OEM sales.

"We are giving ISVs the opportunity to package our stuff into their solution, which they'll deliver as one package under one order," Hanson said.   

ISVs benefit from simplified packaging and pricing, he said. The open-source WAS CE is free to download and use, and ISVs can implement WAS CE with their small and midsize business customers' existing technology infrastructure to help the SMBs reuse their existing technology and run their businesses more efficiently, said Haynes. 

For ISVs, an OEM agreement with IBM provides not only revenue advantages, but can simplify the sales and integration process with their customers, he said, since two key pieces of the solution — in this case the IBM middleware and Avada's software — are packaged and delivered to the customer together.  

Avada's applications complement IBM's middleware offerings, and packaging WAS CE together with Avada applications "simplifies support, delivery and deployment time, since the middleware required to run the application is already included," Haynes said. 

The agreement also gives Avada greater visibility in the marketplace, said Avada's Chief Operating Officer Peter D'Agosta, and access to a broader geographic market.

"We are a company of 10 people, so obviously people are going to know IBM's name better than they know of us. The credibility and the marketing edge a company like IBM lends [are] very strong," D'Agosta said. "This model gives us a much broader reach to customers."