IBM Adds Developer Tools, Resources for Expected Boom in Cloud, Mobile Application Development

IBM Corp. said that it has added a number of new resources for developers through its developerWorks program to help IT professionals take advantage of an expected upsurge in software application development for mobile devices and tablet PCs.

The moves are based on the vendor’s new, global study—called the 2010 IBM Tech Trends Survey--of some 2,000 IT developers that points to a notable clamor in the next five years for mobile and cloud computing software application development and IT delivery.

About 55 percent of IT professionals participating in the survey believe that by 2015 software application development for traditional computing platforms will lag development for devices such as Apple Computer Inc.’s iPhone and iPad, Google Inc.’s Android and Research in Motion’s Blackberry Playbook.

“To best understand where enterprise technology is headed, one must pay attention to those who have a pulse on market demands, the developers and IT specialists responding to these demands and creating the next generation of business applications,” said Jim Corgel, IBM general manager, Independent Software Vendors and Developer Relations.

“These survey results clearly demonstrate that IT professionals see a combination of disruptive technologies and industry-specific skills as key to driving near-term business growth," he said.

Accordingly, for mobile computing developers, the vendor, through its developerWorks network, is offering a lineup of free mobile computing technology resources for mobile platforms such as the iPhone, iPad, HTML5 and Android.

IBM also is rolling out an application for the iPhone that allows developers with mobile access to leverage its social networking platform, My developerWorks, to network with colleagues.

For cloud developers, IBM is offering new resources including online workshops, skills tutorials, technical resources and social networking tools to encourage content sharing, the building of online relationships and peer networks to promote innovation.

For example, this month IBM is offering four virtual events for cloud developers in which IT professionals can learn solutions to solve business and technical problems in the cloud, and how to use and build cloud-based applications such as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) with both IBM and open technologies.

Developers also may access an online site for technical resources, collaboration forums, articles, podcasts and tutorials on IBM and open technologies-based best practices in specific industries, including banking, energy and utilities, healthcare, government, chemical and petroleum.

Technical information also is available on IBM’s Industry Frameworks, a schematic of hardware and software aimed at helping businesses to fit technology to specific industries.

The online Tech Trends study, whose participants were gleaned from the eight million registered users of IBM’s developerWorks worldwide, also revealed that 91 percent of respondents expect that by 2015, cloud computing will overtake on-premise computing as the main way businesses acquire information technology.

Along with mobile and cloud computing, IT professionals in the study pegged social media, business analytics and industry-specific technologies as emerging areas for career growth beginning next year, while telecommunications, financial services, health care, and energy and utilities were rated as the top four industries for job opportunities.

To cement its point, IBM offered up data from researcher Gartner Inc., which forecasts spending on mobile computing applications will balloon from about $6 billion this year to some $29 billion by 2013, while the cloud services market will more than double from this year’s $68 billion to $149 billion by 2014.