We like the systems integrators using our tools-the small consulting companies and the big guys Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Deloitte and Touche. So they're able to go to their customers and say, 'Look, we can deliver projects faster because we know the Rational process and we know the Rational tools, so we can deliver higher productivity.' There are also system integrators, either very small ones or very large ones, that develop considerable expertise in both the Rational Unified Process and our tools. We have technology partners that do a special that interfaces between SAP and the Rational toolset or something like that, or a new metrics capability for a particular market. But business partners help us a couple of different ways. They'll go direct to developerWorks or direct to our salespeople. They'll go to MSDN for Microsoft. Developers are somewhat less inclined to work through an intermediary or a reseller or something. We still deal with them directly.ĭevelopers are a little different than the rest of the market. Rational tools are more geared toward the enterprise, but I'm assuming that small businesses will be a target for you guys going forward.ĭevlin: Small businesses are a big part of our business already as far as the way IBM defines them. They are direct, face-to-face sales teams or telesales, so they're by our direct salespeople.ĬRN:: Do you see that changing going forward? IBM is talking about the small-business market and the way to reach that business is through the channel. through the channel?ĭevlin: The vast majority of our products are sold directly. We see both, and I don't think that's going to change over the next couple of years.ĬRN:: How about the sales of your products that go direct vs. So as for the customer is using, we can't really tell. Could you break out your business by platform and address the trends there?ĭevlin: The problem is, if you buy a Rose license, it works on either [Java or. Net about equally-50 percent to 50 percent. We're leveraging all the capabilities of the platforms as quick as we can.ĬRN:: You mentioned that going forward analysts think companies will use Java and. What may be seeing may more be a statement about the platforms than what Microsoft is doing or what IBM is doing. On the other side, Microsoft is making more technology available to us every day, and we'll leverage that. We're leveraging a bunch of IBM technology. Now, there may be an appearance over time that some things appear on the Java side earlier because they are leveraging a bunch of IBM technologies. We're continuing to make a major investment down both paths. Net customers just want something different than Java customers. There are unique things that will only be in one or the other usually driven by the platform or. Net version?ĭevlin: We're going to move both products forward full-speed ahead. Are you saying things don't come out at the same time? So in a reasonable amount of time you'll have the Java version and then the. Say you're going forward with the Rational Rose XDE product. So there are some capabilities in one and not the other that reflect the platform.ĬRN:: I'll be specific. It's either perception or there are differences. What's the story there?ĭevlin: use the products. CRN:: Solution providers have said that since Rational became a part of IBM, its tools don't support Microsoft products as much as they support the J2EE platform.