IBM will next week launch a new set of partnership programs for Web integrators, incubators, ASPs, ISPs, resellers, ISVs and other players in the dot-com space. The new programs will include Go Global, for businesses looking into globalisation; the IBM Incubator Series; and Quick Launch.
Jim Corgel, general manager of IBM's Net Generation (Net Gen) Business, says the new Go Global program will help play matchmaker between companies around the world with complementary needs and interests. Go Global could help telecom carriers to host ASPs, or ISPs to find content creators in other countries, for instance.
IBM plans to present a series of Go Global meetings in major urban areas, Corgel adds, during an interview at the IBM Solutions Centre.
Entrepreneurs attending the Go Global meetings in various cities will then be able to hook up with each other through online forums to discuss their needs and how they might put together mutually beneficial relationships.
The forums in cyberspace will facilitate discussion of issues like "political correctness" in various nations, and how to circumvent "distribution nightmares," says Corgel, who was on hand in Waltham for the fifth anniversary celebration of the Solutions Centre, a resource lab for third-party application development.
IBM plans to present the first meeting in the Go Global program some time during the month of October.
Quick Launch will provide resources to IBM partners with plans in the area of Web-enablement. The program will be available to all of IBM's 90,000 partners worldwide, Corgel says.
In the IBM Incubator Series, on the other hand, IBM will furnish extensive resources to a smaller set of partners, to include incubators, accelerators, and venture capitalists.
The three partners to be named next week are Conexion, EPOCH and Spydre Technologies, according to Corgel.
IBM plans to announce four or five more partners in the IBM Incubator Series next year, the Net Gen GM revealed.
Ashesh Shah, Spydre's managing director and founder, says he expects partnership in the Incubator Series program will bring Spydre deeper discounts on IBM products and services along with greater access to resources like tech briefings and consultation.
Shah adds that Spydre also has entered into a strategic alliance with IBM entailing co-marketing and educational programs for entrepreneurs. IBM will use Spydre as an example of an entrepreneurial business model.
Spydre sees itself as an accelerator as opposed to an incubator, according to Shah. Spydre is taking equity positions in start-up firms in North America, Latin America, Europe and Japan. But instead of cash, Spydre invests staff resources in areas like business development and operations.
Spydre's staffers also hold down executive positions within the client companies. As a result, Spydre is "much more involved in the day-to-day management of the company," he contends. Spydre's management team has hefty experience with start-ups, according to Shah, who adds that he's been involved with four IPOs.
IBM Net Gen division is specifically oriented to the Web space. Corgel maintained that Net Gen's programs are designed to "keep IBM relevant" during an era of constantly changing Web business models.
Also in Waltham, Susan K. Shuck, director of IBM's PartnerWorld for Developers Program, notes that IBM recently added the category of "strategic alliance" to the top tier of its partnership programs.
IBM's strategic alliance partners typically have developed longstanding relationships with Big Blue, according to Corgel. IBM's relationships with the strategic alliance partners are mutually contractual.
IBM previously had unveiled strategic partnerships with CommercialWare; The Innovation Group (TIG); S1 Corp; Yojna; and International Business Systems (IBS).
CommercialWare, a major supplier of B2C solutions, has a customer list that includes Brooks Brothers, Saks and Starbucks, for example, according to one of the speakers at the event in Waltham.
Earlier this week, IBM announced the IBM Startup Initiative for Developers, another set of partnership programs.
In contrast to the three programs to be announced next week, the IBM Startup Initiative is geared to entrepreneurs who are starting up new commercial software ventures.
