IBM, Microsoft bolster commerce, support on servers; Vendors unveil products, partners.(Brief...

B-to-b marketers evaluating high-end commerce platforms have new options to consider, thanks to a pair of disclosures last week by IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

IBM's server software unit confirmed plans to release today WebSphere Commerce Suite software that will provide Java support, global commerce capabilities and a centralized catalog when used with IBM iSeries computer hardware.

The move is significant because more than 300,000 companies already use iSeries hardware somewhere in their operations, and

between 80% and 90% of those companies ar