eBay and IBM announced an agreement on wednesday that will make IBM software integral to the online auction leaders operations. As part of the deal eBay will rebuild its popular auction site using WebSphere. eBay representatives mentioned that this move will not affect their relationship with Microsoft - they still plan to use technologies such as Microsoft Passport for authentication.

From the linked articles:
"IBM said it won a competitive benchmark against Microsoft Corp., which provided much of eBay's existing software infrastructure, as well as BEA Systems Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. IBM declined to give the financial terms of the contract."

"The alliance includes three components:
1 - eBay will use WebSphere, IBM's e-infrastructure software, as the foundation for its next-generation trading platform.
2 - IBM will expand its presence on eBay, making the global trading site a key sales channel for reaching buyers.
3 - The two companies agreed to explore joint-marketing opportunities across online and offline media.

Check out EBay Chooses IBM's Websphere To Manage Transactions on Site - Wallstreet Journal
Read eBay Embraces IBM for Software, Marketing Boost - yahoo.com
Read eBay joins IBM in software, sales, marketing alliance - ibm.com
And finally: IBM, eBay ink auction, technology pact - CNET

Wow, this is HUGE for J2EE! If any real-world site is an acid-test for scalability, throughput and failover, it's ebay... Doesn't matter that ebay chose IBM over another competitor; what matters is eBay chose J2EE, because open-framework API means eBay can decide to switch to another vendor later if IBM doesn't deliver as promise, which is something eBay cannot do with a Microsoft solution. Chalk one up for J2EE!

Gene

Hip! Hip! Hurrah! ..

Exellent news!
But as a matter of interest what other big J2EE sites are out there ? I'm keen to hear about large user numbers, high volumes, high performance, etc, etc.
Cheers.
Anton.

Is it really J2EE? I read some of the articles. None of them mention the application server, just "WebSphere Software." WebSphere is a brand that IBM seems to use to cover lots of products. Go to:
WebSphere Products

and look at the long list of applications under the "WebSphere" umbrella, including MQSeries, some Tivoli product and others.

Here is a quote from one of the articles:
"EBay and Microsoft have a wide-ranging alliance under which eBay has agreed to adopt Microsoft Internet technologies, such as .NET and Passport, and Microsoft gives eBay auctions promotion on its MSN online properties. Ms. Whitman stressed that eBay will continue to use those Microsoft technologies."

So which WebSphere product is EBay using? I wouldn't be surprised if they're just implementing MQSeries and IBM is playing it up for WebSphere the same way BEA would play up an implementation of its TP software as a WebLogic win.

Sorry to be so cranky, but I won't be celebrating a J2EE win on this news until I hear EBay is explicitly using WebSphere Application Server, and which edition it is.

I suspect that they will run J2EE. One of the linked articles alluded to the benefits of running on 'open standards' with Websphere. What open standards could they be referring to other than J2EE?

  Because of eBay's relationship with Microsoft, they definitly want to keep this announcement low-key and not trumpet the fact that they may be using J2EE. That would not be in their best interests.

Floyd

eBay is using WebSphere 4.0 with WebSphere App Developer Stuio

Quote from article:

"San Jose, Calif.-based eBay also said it would use IBM's WebSphere application server as its platform for its V3 technology upgrade. "

Also, all 3 articles mention IBM beating its competitors, including BEA and Sun, for this contract. So I'm pretty sure they're not talking about a messaging server, because picking MQSeries over anything Sun or BEA offers is a no brainer! :-)

Gene

This is exciting news indeed!

Check the following site.

http://ebay.client.shareholder.com/news/20010906-57994.htm

Well well well well well well well....

Looks like it was a pure business decision after all. It figures... money talks indeed.

It definitely wasn't a technology win.

I think IBM just wanted another reference site and eBay wanted more marketing opportunities to make more $$$.

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As part of the alliance, eBay will become a key auction site for IBM products. IBM already has a thriving business on eBay and recently established an IBM destination within eBay Stores. IBM will expand its sales of PCs, servers and software on the site. In addition, a direct link to eBay will appear on the IBM.com homepage. Finally, eBay and IBM will explore joint offline marketing opportunities across television, print and direct marketing channels.

"With more than 34 million registered users, eBay is a strong branding platform for almost any company. By increasing our presence on the site, we'll increase traffic to IBM's eBay store as well as to IBM.com," said Lou D'Ambrosio, vice president, marketing and sales, IBM Software Group. "We are excited about the marketing synergy between eBay and IBM, and believe our partnership will provide exciting opportunities for our customers, channels and our brands."
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Oh yeah. One more thing.

IBM had set aside US 250 million recently solely for marketing purposes. I somewhat have a feeling that quite a bit of that amount went into this deal.

When money talks, technology walks.