WebSphere Greets Google Gadgets

March 1, 2007: The IBM WebSpere will bring well acquainted consumer tools to the corporation by enabling Google Gadgets for creation and customisation in the Portal.

IBM says this announcement makes them the first vendor to bring consumer-style web utilities into the corporate portal market. With improved access to Web 2.0 capabilities, it’s a move that will allow corporate users to benefit from web-based communities they might be more accustomed to in their recreational online activities. x

Users of the WebSphere Portal will be able to directly use the applications available within Google Gadgets within the portal, where they will appear as ready-to-use services.

The over 4,000 Google Gadgets include package delivery tracking, language translaters, Podcast searchers, YouTube postings and Wikipedia information. IBM says that with these applications, IBM can build on its currently available role-based business centric portals such as content and data management, knowledge management and enterprise resource planning.

IBM says its Websphere Portal is the number one enterprise portal product, a statement given with its market lead in software licensing sales. The Google Gadget integration is just an initial step in evolving applications with Web 2.0 technologies.

Marissa Mayer, Google vice president for User Experience says the Google, WebSphere integration is about customising the user experience. “Mash-up style applications offer great opportunities for small business to target,” she says. “Google Gadgets will allow IBM’s users to harness a wide range of rich and interactive content.

At the top of the access chain, administrators will ultimately be able to select which gadgets will me most useful to the organisation. It’s a move that harnesses the consumer availability of Google Gadgets by funnelling them through the WebSphere Portal, allowing control and surveillance over how they are used.

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