IBM's new software platform and related services will help manufacturers create more intelligent products at low cost.

To help manufacturers and designers create products that enable people to live and work in a smarter manner, IBM has launched a new software platform.


To help manufacturers and designers create products that enable people to live and work in a smarter manner, IBM has launched a new software platform. The software, with related services, will provide capabilities that support collaboration, and help reduce the cost and risk of bringing more intelligent, instrumented and interconnected products to market, the company claims.

It will provide a fully integrated software delivery platform that addresses requirements, design, development and management -- across electrical, mechanical and software technologies.

The platforms and services launched include:

• IBM Rational Team Webtop -- the integrated user front-end to increase communication and productivity

• IBM Rational DOORS -- that enables an expanded set of stakeholders to review, analyse and modify requirements

• IBM Rational Change and IBM Rational Synergy -- that help companies improve application quality

• IBM Rational Team Concert -- that provides new levels of scalability and security to enable collaborative and agile development among distributed product teams, and

• IBM Rational Rhapsody -- that helps identify and correct potential design flaws as early as possible.

All these platforms and services will allow manufacturers to bring out low-cost but intelligent products.

(For more on the platforms and tools keep watching this space!)