Category 1: Application Server Providers

Application server providers are divided into two classes: (1) providers of turnkey platforms, and (2) providers of software-based application development environments.

Example 1: Turnkey Platform Providers

The complete turnkey platform vendors covered in this section include:

  • Hewlett Packard (with its Bluestone/Netaction product offerings);

  • IBM (with its WebSphere application server and accompanying value-add products for systems management, security, and other infrastructure elements, plus its additional business process management and personalization software);

  • Sun (with its ONE application server product set, its iPlanet Application Server, and its Forte 4GL application development environment).

These vendors offer hardware, application development software, and related professional services in other words, turnkey platforms. Especially noteworthy are IBM and Sun, because they are expected to be major influences in the Web services market over time. Hewlett Packard (HP) is also interesting because the company has rapidly assembled a complete application server environment (Netaction) and is poised to compete favorably with Sun (and some day with IBM). The efforts of some of the other major second-tier application server vendors (Compaq, Dell, and Unisys) are not covered here, but they resemble in many respects what HP is doing to become a major player in the turnkey application server marketplace.

Note that BEA and Microsoft are not covered in this section. They provide application server software, not turnkey application servers. But Microsoft is covered in the next section.

Vendor Profile: IBM

Market Positioning

IBM has three solid advantages in seeking to dominate the market in Web services application server provisioning.

  1. IBM has probably the most potent arsenal of application server products and services, and it is rapidly gaining market share in the application server market space (see the subsection on "Product/Service Offerings");

  2. IBM has a strong strategic commitment to Web services application development, as evidenced by its heavy participation in W3C standards committees, and

  3. IBM is the first major turnkey platform provider to provide access to UDDI registry and program-to-program application development tools.

IBM has understood early the strategic importance of Web services and has built what is arguably the industry's most potent turnkey application server platform complete with the hardware, software, and services needed to build next-generation Web services applications.

As of this writing, IBM has overtaken market leader BEA in terms of units sold in the application server marketplace.

The WebSphere product line has been experiencing stunning growth at a time when the IT industry is in a lull. And being in the Web services market early will likely prove a strong advantage to IBM over time. Application developers and business managers are already turning to WebSphere as a "product of choice" for building Web services enabled applications, and they will probably stick with IBM over the long term rather than switch platforms unnecessarily.

Product/Service Offerings

A high-level view finds IBM's WebSphere application server environment to be rich in basic application development software as well as value-added software that improves infrastructure (security, reliability, manageability) and enables business process reengineering.

WebSphere:

  • Runs across its four hardware platforms, which include its mainframe, e-Series (AS/400), UNIX (RS-6000), and Windows hardware platforms;

  • Includes a myriad of tools and utilities designed to help developers build Java language based applications;

  • Offers tools for Web design, presentation, personalization, portal creation, voice support, and publishing;

  • Offers tools to assist in business process reengineering, policy management, and the development of business rules and workflow;

  • Offers numerous products that enable connection to and messaging with legacy system environments (to allow for cross-platform integration);

  • Offers products that enable e-commerce and B2B integration; and

  • Offers infrastucture extensions that allow for greater systems manageability and security than many other application server product offerings.

On the professional services side of the house, IBM has a Web services specialist organization (known as the jStart) that can (selectively) help prospective Web services users develop Web services solutions. (Many of the examples used in Chapter 7, "Real World Web Services Examples," actually contracted with IBM's J-team for help and advice in designing and deploying their Web services applications.) The jStart team offers training, advice, mentoring, and development support to early-adopters of Web services architecture.

Competitive Positioning

The Web services marketplace will ultimately shape up as a battle between Java language based application server makers and .NET environment supporters. Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses but, if past purchasing behavior holds true, most enterprises will prefer to standardize on one approach as they build their applications portfolios and developer expertise.

In this either/or scenario IBM is perched as the broadest and deepest choice for Java-based application development and deployment today. Other Java-based Web services suppliers have a fair amount of catching up to do, both in the depth and breath of their product offerings and in the provisioning of professional services. So, in the short term, IBM can be regarded as the leader-of-the-Java-pack.

But if the rest of the Java pack is lagging behind IBM in terms of breadth and depth, which companies really are IBM's primary competitors? The real competition is from the alternative solution provider Microsoft.

The Microsoft .NET approach is distinctly different from the IBM WebSphere approach. .NET is an application development environment that is built for Intel platforms and will largely be sold by third-party systems suppliers or directly by Microsoft. Those third parties will garner license revenue commissions as well as revenue from the sale of related professional services. By contrast, WebSphere is a highly integrated platform that will drive not only hardware and software revenue for IBM and its business partners but also related professional services revenue.

Each company has a different go-to-market approach and different revenue models but it is amazing how similar their product structure and Web services architectures really are. Each company supports XML, UDDI, WSDL, and SOAP. Each offers very rich application development environments rife with tools and utilities that streamline the job of writing and compiling applications. Further, each company's product suite has value-added software that allows for business process reengineering, for improved messaging, for varied device connection, for personalization, and a dozen other similarities.

Early in 2002 it seemed likely that during the first half of the year IBM's primary Web services competition would come from Microsoft, but in the second half, the other Java-based turnkey platform competitors would be able to put forward platforms that will compete better with IBM. Ultimately, though, this market will really be a battle between Microsoft .NET and Java-based platforms with major victories going to the vendors that make the easiest-to-use integrated application development environments for Web services.

IBM Summary

IBM is sitting in a highly enviable position in the application server marketplace. The company was the first turnkey platform supplier to officially release Web services application development products, tools, and utilities. And it has a very rich, deep, and highly integrated suite of ancillary products and services that enable enterprises not only to build Web services but also to streamline business processes, incorporate the use of intelligent portable devices, and much, much more.

Being first out of the blocks can be a good thing if the company is able to capture the hearts and minds of a large portion of the Java development community, because the likelihood of this community moving to new platforms down the road diminishes as IBM's WebSphere gets stronger and stronger. Being first means nothing at all, though, if the other industry leaders are slow to introduce their Web services products because being the best and only show in town does not foster cross-platform program-to-program interoperability.

Still, if you are an IT buyer and you are looking for a completely integrated suite of Java development tools with which to develop Web services applications today IBM is the one place to turn for the most comprehensive set of hardware, software, and services offerings available.

Vendor Profile: Sun

Market Position

In the Java world Sun Microsystems has a lot going for it. The company created Java, and the company's professional services organization has a huge commitment to fostering the growth of Java-based applications. Java is strategically important to Sun. Add the fact that Sun servers are the market leaders in the enterprise UNIX server marketplace, and the words "Sun" and "Java servers" should go hand-in-hand right?

How is Sun positioned in the Web services marketplace? Succinctly, and in the company's own words, Sun is positioned as follows:

Sun believes that businesses want an IT infrastructure that supports their current computing environment, while providing a platform that prepares them for future Web-based services. Sun offers many resources to help businesses create Services on Demand, including field-proven reference architectures, market-leading products, and worldwide professional services. Services on Demand can help businesses create a sustainable business advantage by leveraging the Internet to help maximize IT investments, minimize time to market, create new market opportunities, and reduce overall costs.

The key is the Sun™ Open Net Environment (Sun ONE), Sun's vision, architecture, platform, and expertise to enable the Services on Demand of today and tomorrow.

Source: http://www.sun.com/software/sunone/wp-getstarted/. Used by Permission.

In short, Sun is positioned to compete with other Web services competitors as a provider of Web services enabled application servers. Its revenue stream is derived from the sale of hardware and systems software as well as from the sale of related professional services.

Product Offerings

Sun's Web services strategy is manifest in its Open Net Environment (ONE) initiative. This initiative pulls together all of the application development tools and utilities, the ancillary applications such as security and management, and the value-added applications such as business process reengineering and personalization all into a single unified architecture.

The three main product sets that make up the Sun ONE platform are:

  • IPlanet;

  • Forte (a toolset for building distributed applications); and

  • Solaris (Sun's UNIX Operating Environment)

Let's take a closer look at these environments.

IPlanet, a joint venture "product wing" between Sun and various business partners, provides Web and application services, commerce services, communication services, user management, integration, and portal services for the Sun ONE architecture. With respect to Web services, it has an XML-enabled integration broker that allows for the creation of new Web services applications as well as the integration of legacy applications. It also contains business process management software that allows applications to be optimized with business processes. At this juncture, iPlanet supports SOAP rev 1.1, SML/HTTP and JMS-based message transport, and LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol) as opposed to UDDI (UDDI will come later).

Forte is the application development environment used to build Web services (and many other application types). In fact, the Forte development environment supports Java, C++, Fortran/HPC, TeamWare, and C language environments. As the creator of Java, Sun's implementation is excellent. Sun's Java tools are found packaged in Forte application development software offerings.

The final element of Sun ONE's architecture is the company's own Solaris environment. This operating environment is quite mature and consists of a UNIX kernel with substantial improvements in the areas of scalability, reliability, availability, and manageability.

Competitive Positioning

Many articles in the trade contend that Sun has been slow to respond to the challenge of bringing Web services application development environments to market. Despite the fact that the company does offer XML, WSDL, and SOAP as part of its iPlanet integration server, a continuing theme in the press is that Sun is behind Microsoft and others in Web services application provisioning.

This Sun-is-behind argument can be refuted as follows:

  1. The company has a complete application server environment in place today with the combination of its Forte application development tools, its iPlanet integration server, and its operating environment extensions (security, reliability, etc.).

  2. Remember, the Gartner Group prediction (illustrated in the introductory section of this book) indicates that Web services products will start to move into the mainstream (circa 2004) as UDDI matures. Sun will build its Web services reference base and provide further product integration well in advance of 2004.

  3. The company has been very actively participating in XML, SOAP, and UDDI standards development. Its knowledge of the Web services specifications, its strong UNIX market position, and its influence on Java language development and deployment will most assuredly make Sun a strong contender in the Web services application server marketplace.

  4. The same kind of argument that Sun-is-behind was once made in the UNIX enterprise server marketplace and that argument, too, proved false. Sun is now the leader in UNIX enterprise server sales.

Given these counterarguments, and the Gartner Group projections that the Web services marketplace will not really start to mature until UDDI starts to take off in late 2004, this author does not believe that Sun is "behind" in building Web services product and service offerings.

Sun Summary

As noted earlier in this book, there are almost religious overtones in discussions of which approach to application development is better the Java approach or the .NET approach. Sun is a pure Java player and has the products and services in place to compete effectively in the Web services application server marketplace.

One major perception among the press and some members of the analyst community is that Sun is late to market. More accurately, Sun was late to articulate its strategy but its products and services will be aligned to meet market needs as Web services gain market acceptance.

Example 2: Application Server Software Providers

The two major players building the software environments that drive application servers are BEA and Microsoft. But dozens of other companies also have application development environments, tools, and utilities that also legitimately fit into this software/server category. Among them are: IONA, Web Methods, Vitria, SeeBeyond, Tibco, Silverstream, Lucin, CapeClear, Crossworlds, Velocigen, Savvion, and Actional. IONA has been randomly chosen to represent this bunch.

All of these vendors provide application development software environments and many of those can run across multiple systems platforms. Many of the vendors had origins in the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) marketplace and are now looking to segue into the Web services applications server marketplace. Some of them make their money by providing software solutions only, while others sell both software and services. None of them make their money by selling hardware (for that aspect of the business they rely on business partnerships with hardware makers and value-added resellers).

This section covers the market, product, and competitive positioning of Microsoft.

Microsoft

Market Positioning

Microsoft believes strongly that the computing world is moving toward a Web services-based application model, and it has been extremely aggressive in building market awareness of Web services. The company believes that Web services will alter the way that applications are designed, built, and delivered and is leading the charge toward this new way of doing business.

At present, to help build Web services momentum, Microsoft's approach is to go after the development community with:

  1. A suite of easy-to-use application development tools.

  2. Value-added software (for automating business processes, for instance).

  3. A Windows 2000 operating system that has been improved to help compensate for some of the current shortcoming of Web services standards (in the areas of security, manageability, and reliability, for instance).

The company's goal is to help populate the marketplace with Web services applications that make use of Microsoft's own .NET architecture (explained later in this section).

To make things easier for developers, Microsoft's .NET environment contains:

  • A rich application development environment (under the product name Visual Studio);

  • A focus on making Web services enabling its Windows 2000, SQL Server, and Exchange Server environments, while also focusing on building a rich suite of value-added integration and business process management tools (as part of its BizTalk application server environment);

  • A focus on creating "building-block" infrastructure components that will make it easy for consumers and users to move from one computing environment to another. These building-block services also make it easier for developers to concentrate on writing applications, as opposed to dealing with infrastructure plumbing in order to make their applications work properly in a distributed computing environment;

  • A focus on creating "immersive" human-interface environments on various types of platforms (PCs, PDAs, handheld computers, tablets, and other to-be-invented devices); and,

  • A focus on making the user's experience simple and compelling.

Microsoft's .NET Strategy

Microsoft's overarching plan for Web services is manifest in its .NET architecture. What is .NET? According to Sanjay Parthasarathy, Vice President of Platform Strategy at Microsoft, the following definition represents an easy way to understand .NET:

Sidebar 10-1
The Simplest Way to Define .NET

The best way to define .NET is to think about what .NET is going to do. Microsoft believes a silent shift to distributed computing is happening. Over the last couple of years, people have been laying fat pipes to the point where bandwidth is a lot less limited than it has been in the past. Combined with the Moore's Law effect, where the processing power doubles every 18 months and the prices are halved, you now have the option to do really distributed computing for the first time: because bandwidth is less expensive, you can do the processing wherever it is most optimal.

There are lots of examples of such distributed applications today. Napster is an application that uses a rich client talking to a directory service in the cloud, and uses all of the participating computers on the network as servers. Another example of a distributed application is instant messaging, where you have a rich client that talks to a buddy list in the cloud and communicates with other rich clients Instant Messenger and Windows in the network.

So .NET is aimed at accelerating this next generation of distributed computing.

Three Levers

We believe there are three levers to pull to make this distributed computing generation happen as fast as it can:

  1. Web services: The first lever is that everything needs to be a Web service. This applies to both pieces of software and resources in the network like storage.

  2. Aggregation and integration: The second lever that needs to be pulled is that once you have these Web services, you need to be able to aggregate and integrate these Web services in very simple and easy ways.

  3. Simple and compelling user experience: The third lever to accelerate distributed computing is you need to have a simple and compelling consumer or end user experience.

So those three levers we think are essential to accelerating this move to distributed computing:

  • Everything is a Web service;

  • The ability to aggregate and integrate Web services; and

  • The ability to deliver a simple and compelling experience to end users.

.NET is really aimed at pulling these levers to accelerate the move to distributed computing, and we're doing five things in .NET to pull these levers right.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/Partner/Products/MicrosoftNet/MicrosoftNETDefined.asp. Used by Permission.

Notice how important Microsoft believes Web services are. They are central to building next-generation applications; to be successful they will require a lot of integration work (and Microsoft builds tools for this kind of application integration); and ultimately they need to be able to deliver a simple, satisfying, and compelling user experience.

Product Positioning

Like those of other application server makers, Microsoft's products consist of application development environment tools and utilities, value-added software to automate business processes or to help build Web sites more effectively, and platform extensions to help optimize Intel-based hardware and the Windows operating environment for Web services. More specifically, Microsoft offers:

  1. Visual Studio as its C++ application development environment.

  2. BizTalk server for business process reengineering and management.

  3. A whole range of software extensions that help make the Windows 2000 operating system more reliable, manageable, scalable, and secure (in order to augment Web services application servers).

From an application development perspective, Microsoft's .NET architecture offers the following:

Common Language Runtime (CLR) and .NET Framework.

Unified programming model.

More component "building-blocks" for writing less code.

Ability to target multiple devices.

Rich XML data ADO.NET.

Industry-leading tools support.

[Future], Windows .NET Server offers developers the opportunity to improve productivity by enabling them to use multiple programming languages and native XML Web services. In addition, the industry's most productive tools allow one programming model to be used for clients, servers, and devices that enable the Microsoft vision of information anywhere, on any device. The Microsoft Visual Basic® and Visual C++® development systems as well as third-party tools and applications easily integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/enus/dnnetserv/html/windowsnetserver.asp. Used by Permission.

From a business integration perspective, Microsoft adds value to its .NET application server environment with its BizTalk server. What is BizTalk Server?

BizTalk Server 2000 enables you to rapidly build and deploy integrated business processes within your organization and with your trading partners. You can get your solutions to market quicker and use fewer resources so that you can move swiftly to respond to your customers' needs and competitive pressures.

BizTalk Server 2000 offers a suite of tools and services that make building business processes and integrating applications fundamentally faster. You can quickly implement secure, reliable trading partner relationships independent of operating systems, programming models, or programming languages.

Build Dynamic Business Processes

The BizTalk Server infrastructure helps you to quickly integrate, manage, and automate dynamic business processes by exchanging business documents among applications within or across organizational boundaries. With all of the tools companies need for business process orchestration, BizTalk Server helps you build processes that span not only applications, but also businesses, over the Internet. Graphical tools make it easy for business analysts and application developers to model and implement solutions for your business.

Easily Integrate Applications and Business Partners

BizTalk Server 2000 makes it easy for developers to integrate applications and businesses. Business analysts and application developers benefit from a host of rich graphical tools for building XML schemas, performing schema transformations, establishing trading partner relationships over the Internet, and tracking and analyzing data and documents that are exchanged. With support for XML and standard Internet technologies, BizTalk Server 2000 extends the features of traditional e-commerce and electronic data interchange (EDI) to entire e-commerce communities.

Ensure Interoperability by Using Public Standards

With extensive support for public standards and specifications such as XML, EDI, and HTTP, and with security standards such as public key encryption and digital signatures, BizTalk Server 2000 ensures the highest level of interoperability and security with your applications and business partners.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/evaluation/overview/2000/default.asp. Used by Permission.

Finally, from a platform perspective, Microsoft's .NET architecture is easily integrated with the Windows operating system and with other Microsoft platform servers, such as its Internet Information Server (IIS) and its messaging platforms. This integration makes it easy for developers to deploy and integrate newly written Web services applications on Microsoft Windows based servers, and it allows developers to take advantage of Microsoft extensions that allow for performance tuning, scalability, and improved manageability:

.NET Framework integration with the operating system means you don't have to deploy the .NET Framework separately.

Code access security works in conjunction with Software Restriction Policies to give you more control for fighting hostile code.

Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) supports SOAP as a native protocol.

Existing COM+ applications can be automatically converted into Web services with no new code.

ASP.NET integration with the IIS 6.0 process model.

Increased performance.

Better scalability.

Lowest TCO [total cost of ownership].

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/enus/dnnetserv/html/windowsnetserver.asp. Used by Permission.

.NET My Services

Most of Microsoft's competitors talk about "improving the user experience," because Web services also allow a new way to build personalized applications that can provide "valet" programmatic requests for users. But Microsoft is actually bringing to market these valet services in the form of .NET My Services.

What kinds of services can common, everyday users of the Internet expect to see from Microsoft? Here are some examples:

  • .NET Profile. Name, nickname, special dates, picture, address.

  • .NET Contacts. Electronic relationships/address book.

  • .NET Locations. Electronic and geographical location and rendezvous.

  • .NET Alerts. Alert subscription, management, and routing.

  • .NET Presence. Online, offline, busy, free, which device(s) to send alerts to.

  • .NET Inbox. Inbox items like e-mail and voice mail, including existing mail systems.

  • .NET Calendar. Time and task management.

  • .NET Documents. Raw document storage.

  • .NET ApplicationSettings. Application settings.

  • .NET FavoriteWebSites. Favorite URLs and other Web identifiers.

  • .NET Wallet. Receipts, payment instruments, coupons, and other transaction records.

  • .NET Devices. Device settings, capabilities.

  • .NET Services. Services provided for an identity.

  • .NET Lists. General-purpose lists.

  • .NET Categories. A way to group lists.

www.microsoft.com/myservices/services/userexperiences.asp

Technically, .NET My Services are Web services based applications that use XML based messages and SOAP protocols. Programs written using .NET My Services enable users to manage their calendars, describe locations where they can be contacted, manage profile information (such as name, address, credit card numbers for electronic purchases), and even allow users to log on once to access many different types of systems (eliminating the problem of having to remember multiple passwords and user names).

.NET My Services warranted special mention in this section, because few Microsoft competitors at this point have actually extended their Web services reach to individuals, choosing instead to concentrate on Web services for enterprise application development and deployment. Microsoft is approaching the market from the top level (enterprise) and the bottom level (individual users).

Note: Despite the fact that .NET My Services is being re-evaluated, the concept is still viable.

Competitive Positioning

Chapter 8 discussed how Microsoft is positioned to compete with dozens of Java language and development environment proponents.

In short, Microsoft's .NET strategy is based on using Web services protocols and registries, enhancing them with extensions for security, manageability, reliability (and other "abilities"), and integrating Web services applications with other Microsoft server environments (such as BizTalk, IIS, and messaging) to create a robust application server environment.

The elements of this application server environment are the same as those of HP, IBM, Sun, and others: application development tools and utilities; value-added software for integration with other business applications and infrastructure elements; and platform tuning.

On a technology level, the primary difference between Microsoft and its Java competitors is that Microsoft focuses its support on C# and Basic languages while its competitors obviously focus on Java. (But note: Microsoft and its competitors also support Web services communications with other language environments.)

Also, Microsoft's approach to the market differs from that of hardware makers like IBM and Sun, in that Microsoft makes a software environment that can be sold on various vendors' Windows-based Intel platforms (whereas IBM's WebSphere is focused on IBM platforms and Sun's ONE is focused on Sun's Solaris-based UNIX architecture). Microsoft leaves almost all of the professional services revenue to its business partners (whereas IBM and Sun focus on professional services as a source of revenue).

Microsoft Summary

The goal of Web services is to foster cross-platform program-to-program communications. Microsoft believes that the best languages to use are C-based (C++ or C#) or Visual Basic. Other suppliers believe that the best language/middleware approach is Java language based. Despite this basic difference, major competing platforms all look strangely alike. They all have personalization software, business process management software, Web services protocol support (promised or real), and platform extensions to improve reliability, security, and so on.

What Microsoft is doing with .NET differs notably in the area of personal services. Microsoft .NET My Services delivers what other vendors are only talking about personal valet services (programs that can offload individuals from certain mundane tasks). In this area Microsoft is showing creativity that many suppliers lack.

Also encouraging is Microsoft's strong participation on Web services standards committees. With Microsoft and all of the major Java suppliers backing Web services, this form of distributed computing will finally (at last) become a reality.

IONA Technologies PLC

Market Positioning

IONA Technologies is yet another example of a software company that makes a Web application server development environment that can be used to help build Web services applications. Additionally, IONA makes revenue selling its consulting and educational services.

What is IONA? The following (excerpted from IONA's Web site) is a brief description of the company and its market position.

IONA's story began in 1983 in the computer science department of Trinity College in Dublin where the company's founders spent much of a decade researching the ability to make computers, and the software that runs them, work together collaboratively.

In 1993, IONA shipped its ORBIX product, which enables distributed computers and software systems to work together collaboratively. IONA left the Trinity College campus and began opening offices around the world. In 1995, the company opened its U.S. headquarters in Boston. Two years later, IONA "went public" on the NASDAQ exchange, in what was then the 5th largest software IPO ever. Currently, IONA employs more than 900 people in 30 offices worldwide, generating in excess of $180 million in annual revenue and has been profitable every year since its foundation.

In recent years, changes in the business and computing world have played favorably to IONA's strengths. From a consumer perspective, e-business enables people to get the information, goods and services they want from the world's computers to their own computers at home. From a corporate perspective, the e-business revolution enables companies and their suppliers, partners and respective customers to exchange goods and services online. In each case, the world's computer systems must be interconnected for them to work together the very idea IONA was created to address.

Source: Excerpted from http://www.iona.com/info/aboutus/. Used by Permission.

Product Positioning

IONA's Orbix E2A Application Server Platform is available in three editions: (1) the Collaborate Edition, which focuses on providing a suite of process integration solutions that allow IONA customers to build collaborative solutions inside an enterprise and externally to business partners; (2) the Partner Edition, which provides a Web connector between trading partners that have deployed the Collaborate Edition; and (3) the XMLBus Edition (the development platform for "pure" Web services).

The following is an in-depth description of IONA's XMLBus Edition (E2A is IONA's "End-2-Anywhere" architecture"):

IONA's End-2-Anywhere Web Services Positioning

Orbix E2A XMLBus Edition is IONA's entry-level solution for the construction and integration of Web services. This rich environment enables developers to easily implement, deploy, secure, access, test, integrate, and manage standards-based Web services. XMLBus Edition is built on a foundation of open standards including XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI, providing interoperability among distinct programming paradigms such as J2EE, CORBA, and .NET. IONA's patent-pending Web services Container provides a consistent and simple model for Web service development and deployment across Java, J2EE and CORBA environments.

Who Should Use This Product

  • Companies that wish to expose specific information assets as Web services

  • Companies or developers that wish to build and deploy new Web services or connect with existing ones

  • Companies or developers that want to host Web services

  • Companies or developers that want to educate themselves on how to build, deploy and manage Web services

Benefits

  • Seamless upgrade to Orbix E2A Collaborate Edition for a comprehensive Web Services Integration Platform

  • Build a service-oriented architecture with components built on disparate programming paradigms such as Java, J2EE, .NET, COM, and CORBA

  • Create new avenues into existing data and new faces into existing services

  • Leverage existing IT investments and quickly build Web services without writing new code

  • Leverage existing J2EE environment for runtime control, clustering, and security of Web services

  • Easy-to-use interface gives developers the tools they need to get started building Web services, TODAY

  • Developers can aggregate and combine functionality in new and innovative ways

  • Unique Web services container simplifies development and deployment of Web services

Features

  • Provides a non-programmatic, graphical environment for defining, assembling, and integrating Web services from existing resources (Java, J2EE, and CORBA)

  • Provides tools to create new Web services

  • Generates proxy-based and J2ME-ready Web Service client applications

  • Built on open standards including XML, SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, and HTTP(S)

  • Enables remote procedure calls and direct XML document exchange between business services or programs

  • Secure communication through TLS/SSL

  • Web Services Container can run standalone or be deployed into existing J2EE environments

  • Support for multiple industry-leading J2EE Application Servers and CORBA systems

  • Provides an extensible framework for manipulating incoming and outgoing messages or to build custom dispatchers (e.g., integrate transactions, enterprise security, and compression algorithms)

  • Runtime administration and control of running Web services via JMX

  • Web based management console and management service

  • Interoperability tested with over 15 SOAP implementations including Microsoft.NET and the Microsoft SOAP Toolkit

  • Development portal www.xmlbus.com offers rich set of developer resources

Source: http://www.iona.com/products/webserv-xmlbus.htm. Used by Permission.

Professional Services

Besides earning revenue from the sale of its Orbix and other software environments, IONA makes money through the sale of services such as consulting and education.

On the consulting side, IONA provides expertise in assessing application environments, in providing architectural design services, and in the development and deployment of applications. Additionally, IONA has experience in application migration as well as CORBA application design experience.

On the educational side, IONA provides training on its own products as well as mentoring to help application developers learn how to build distributed applications. This kind of service will be extremely valuable as developers ramp up their Web services application development skills.

Competitive Positioning

IONA provides a distributed computing architecture that allows its customers to build e-business applications and that also has a consumer/business-to-business focus. The company fits into the Java "camp" along with IBM, Sun, et al. but more closely resembles BEA, because not only does it make a Java application server software environment but it also sells professional services.

IONA and its direct competitors all base their business models on providing software and services. (Direct competitors include Silverstream, Lucin, Software AG, CapeClear, Velocigen, and Savvion.)

IONA Summary

IONA has a heritage of using standards to build distributed applications. The company has core expertise in such technologies as Microsoft's COM and the OSF's CORBA environments. So it's only natural that IONA pursue the development of distributed Web services applications using new Web services protocols and registries.

IONA's strategy is based on providing integration software for e-business application environments. In other words, the company has a specialty business-to-business integration. Couple this with its knowledge of how to build distributed computing applications and its growing expertise in Web services, and IONA becomes a solid choice for business executives looking for Web services expertise that can help build business integration applications.

Note that IONA is much smaller than BEA and Microsoft, yet it can boast thousands of satisfied users. So the big question becomes, "How will IONA succeed against such large competitors over time?" By specializing in writing cross-platform, program-to-program Web services applications, IONA will be able to clearly differentiate itself from its much larger competitors. Thus it will be able to compete successfully against BEA's and Microsoft's respective Web services application server environments.

webMethods Incorporated

Market Positioning

webMethods is a leading provider of integration software that allows existing legacy, packaged, and/or custom applications to work together. The webMethods integration platform allows customers to achieve quantifiable R.O.I. by linking business processes, enterprise and legacy applications, databases and workflows both within and across enterprises. By deploying the webMethods integration platform, the company claims that its customers can:

  • Generate New Revenue Opportunities webMethods enables companies to increase market share by allowing them to bring products to market more rapidly.

  • Strengthen Relationships with Customers, Suppliers and Partners The webMethods platform provides companies the ability to interact directly and securely with a variety of customers, suppliers, and partners, resulting in streamlined business transactions and faster response times for customer inquiries.

  • Increase Supply-Chain Efficiencies webMethods solutions help companies achieve significant cost savings and productivity enhancements by reducing cycle times, lowering inventories, and reducing error rates through the real-time exchange of information.

  • Increase Returns on Technology Investments and Rapid Implementation The webMethods platform helps companies to maximize their return on investments in ERP and other enterprise applications by extending the benefits provided by those applications to a company's customers, suppliers, and other trading partners.

These four points echo several themes introduced earlier namely, that Web services can help enterprises improve efficiency, reduce development costs, and create new revenue opportunities. In other words, WebMethod's strategy is synchronous with several of the ultimate aims of Web services.

webMethods has more than 750 customers worldwide, including Global 2000 leaders such as Citibank, Dell, Eastman Chemical, The Ford Motor Company, Grainger, and Motorola. webMethods' strategic partners include Ariba, BroadVision, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Commerce One, Hewlett-Packard, i2 Technologies, J.D. Edwards, Microsoft, Oracle Corp., SAP AG, and Siebel Systems.

Product Positioning

The webMethods integration platform integrates application "adapters" with business process management software to help integrate core internal and external (with supply-chain business partners) information systems. The company has created adapters that enable applications from companies such as BMC Software, BroadVision, CommerceOne, Computer Associates, Hewlett-Packard Company, i2 Technologies, J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft, and SAP to interoperate with one and other.

Worthy of note is webMethods' recent announcement that it can automatically Web services enable its adapters, so that existing applications can automatically communicate with each other using Web services WSDL and SOAP protocols.

Also worthy of note is the company's focus on management software that can allow an enterprise to manage business processes across the entire extended enterprise. The webMethods integration platform provides an enterprise with a global view of its business, giving business executives immediate up-to-the-minute information from all of their systems and applications.

The company also has a growing professional services organization as well as many partnerships with much larger professional services firms, including Deloitte Consulting, EDS, KPMG Consulting, Accenture, and Lante.

Competitive Positioning

Dozens of software providers and professional services firms concentrate on providing products and services related to application integration. But this market generally segments into three sources of supply for such services:

  1. Integration server providers.

  2. Application server providers.

  3. Professional services firms.

Integration server companies include suppliers such as webMethods, IONA, Tibco, and Vitrias. These companies focus specifically on application and data integration as well as integrated business process management. Additionally, a significant portion of their revenue stream may come from providing professional services related to the deployment of their products (in some cases, third-party professional services firms garner services revenue).

Application server providers include companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Sun. These companies focus on providing application development environments (Java versus .NET and related middleware), integration services (each company offers application "connectors"), and business process management. Like integration server companies, these application server companies may offer professional services related to the deployment of their respective product suites.

The final source of supply for integration services is professional service suppliers such as GE Global Exchange Services or IBM Global Services. These companies may use their own application/integration server products (for instance, IBM Global Services has a heavy commitment to supporting IBM's WebSphere application server environment); they may have their own tools and methodologies (performing custom engagements using standard architectures such as EDI or CORBA combined with their own business process management software); or they may act as the deployment arm for any of a number of application server/integration server vendors.

From a comparative perspective, webMethods is positioned as an integration server vendor that focuses specifically on providing application/data integration and related professional services.

webMethods Summary

webMethods has done an excellent job of adapting its adapters (program interfaces) to Web services, making it possible for existing packaged, custom, and legacy applications to automatically communicate with one another using Web services protocols. Further, webMethods focuses on providing management software, thus helping to fill in one of the shortcomings of Web services architecture management. And webMethods does an excellent job of tying together business applications, Web services, and manageability with business process integration software, making the company an intriguing choice as a partner for enterprises looking to integrate existing solutions into a Web services architectural model.



Web Services Explained. Solutions and Applications for the Real World
Web Services Explained, Solutions and Applications for the Real World
ISBN: 0130479632
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 115
Authors: Joe Clabby

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