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IBM launches mashups for business portfolio

Mashup tools are aimed at both end users and IT pros, with the goal of breaking up the application logjam in business.

Martin LaMonica Former Staff writer, CNET News
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer covering green tech and cutting-edge technologies. He joined CNET in 2002 to cover enterprise IT and Web development and was previously executive editor of IT publication InfoWorld.
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Martin LaMonica

IBM is mashing up its mashups to create a product line aimed at business people who want to make Web applications fast.

An avian flu mashup that matches bird types and wind types that shows bird movement patterns. IBM
The company on Tuesday announced IBM Mashup Center, which combines a front-end tool for end-users and a server for gathering information. A beta starts on April 15.

Mashup Center is made up of Lotus Mashups, which lets people combine information from different Web sites and present them on a single screen, and also includes IBM InfoSphere MashupHub, a lightweight tool aimed at IT professionals for preparing data feeds from different sources.

IBM will continue to sell the two products separately.

The products originally came out of IBM's emerging technologies group, which started exploring the idea of giving end-users more power to make lightweight and short-lived applications.

These tools are meant to lighten the load on IT departments that can't keep up with users' requests for new applications.