Magic Quadrant For Enterprise Application Servers, 2Q08

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers, 2Q08 Page 1 of 18
Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application

Servers, 2Q08
24 April 2008
Yefim V. Natis, Massimo Pezzini, Kimihiko Iijima, Raffaella Favata
Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00156200
Foundational EAS technology is evolving to meet the challenges of constant innovation in business software. Service-oriented architecture, extreme
transaction processing, software as a service, open source and event-driven architecture are the key drivers of change.
What You Need to Know Acronym Key and Glossary Terms
An application server is system software that acts as a container for applications' business logic. It is a form of ABAP Advanced Business
middleware — or, more specifically, platform middleware. The key function of an application server is to Application Programming
implement a programming model — used, in turn, by application programmers. The models — such as
ACID atomicity, consistency,
Customer Information Control System (CICS) Command Level; Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE); isolation, durability
.NET Microsoft Application Platform (MSAP); and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) — are
used by programmers as extensions to the basics of supported programming languages. APaaS application platform as a
service
Some application server programming models are bound into a single language (Java EE), whereas others
API application programming
enable multiple languages (CICS, Information Management System [IMS], .NET MSAP and CORBA) to be used.
interface
Behind their programming model application programming interfaces (APIs), the application servers manage
the optimization of system resources (such as memory and threads) and the connectivity of the application to BPM business process
external resources (including database management systems [DBMSs], networks and other applications). They management
also provide quality of service (QOS) support (including availability, reliability, security, management,
performance and scalability) and enable the distributed deployment of applications. CEP complex event processing
CICS Customer Information

Most application servers are also extended with unique features — such as batch frameworks, object caching, Control System
event management, development tools and process management — differentiating vendor offerings. Some
extensions cross into other technology areas and can make a product labeled an "application server" represent CORBA Common Object Request
a suite of multiple categories of system software surrounding the central application server core. The reverse is Broker Architecture
also often true: Products labeled as "other than application servers" (such as portal products, composite
DBMS database management
application platforms and process servers) carry much of an application server's functionality at the core of
system
their offerings.
DTP distributed transaction
The prevailing categories of application server architecture (and the corresponding programming models) are processing
the Microsoft-only .NET and the multivendor Java EE (previously known as J2EE). Although these products
EAF Enterprise Application
dominate the market, they compete with older transaction processing monitor (TPM) and object request broker
Fabric
products — which continue to be the preferred options for some projects — and with such emerging offerings
as PHP, Ruby or POJO frameworks; Java Advanced Intelligent Networks (JAIN) Service Logic Execution EAS enterprise application
Environment (JSLEE); and distributed-caching and grid-based extreme transaction processing (XTP) platforms, server
which all address some of the leading options' shortcomings.
EDA event-driven architecture
Application servers can be offered as products for on-site deployment and use, or their functionality can be IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
offered as a service (as access to the application server technology deployed under the management of a third-
party provider or host). The technology can be offered embedded in applications or other solutions, or as a ISV independent software
separately standing software package. Most application servers (middleware) are offered packaged with some vendor
development and monitoring capability. Although these are not strictly definitional features of the application
J2EE Java 2 Platform, Enterprise
server, they are essential for real-world adoption.
Edition
Enterprise application servers (EASs) are application servers that are suitable for enterprise-class projects. This Java EE Java Platform, Enterprise
is a $2.1 billion market (in 2006) according to Gartner Dataquest (see "Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Edition
Worldwide, 2007-2012"). The EAS market is estimated to have reached $2.4 billion in total software revenue in
2007. We expect this market to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 11%, reaching $4.1 billion JAIN Java Advanced Intelligent
in 2012. The competition and innovation in the market will continue to be fueled by its size, rates of growth and Networks
the broad industry presence of its products. JSLEE JAIN Service Logic
Execution Environment
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MSAP Microsoft Application
Platform
Magic Quadrant OS operating system
QOS quality of service

A Magic Quadrant represents Gartner's judgment of vendors' ability to execute and the completeness of their
vision in a technology market (in this case, the EAS market). The Ability to Execute criteria reflect the staying
http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/oracle/article19/article19.html 3/17/2009
power and record of execution of vendors in the market. The Completeness of Vision criteria reflect vendors' RDBMS relational database
ability to understand market trends, influence them, and follow them with agility and consistency. management system
RFID radio frequency

Vendors that are strong in their execution and ability to follow and influence the market are labeled "market identification
leaders." The most recent players in the market that have a limited record of execution, and well-executing
vendors that are overly cautious on innovation and risk, are less likely to be leaders. SaaS software as a service
SIP Session Initiation Protocol

The Magic Quadrant can be seen as an arranged "long list" of vendors for a given market. Devise your own
shortlist based on your organization's specific circumstances and requirements. Use this Magic Quadrant as one SM software module
point of input, not as the sole deciding criterion.
SOA service-oriented
Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers, 2Q08 architecture
SOAP Simple Object Access

Protocol
TM transaction manager
TP transaction processing
TPF TP facility
TPM transaction processing

monitor
WAS WebSphere Application

Server
WL WareLite Business
BOSS Operating Support System
XTP extreme transaction

processing
Vendors Added or Dropped
We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for

Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets
change. As a result of these adjustments, the
mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or
MarketScope may change over time. A vendor
appearing in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope
one year and not the next does not necessarily
indicate that we have changed our opinion of
that vendor. This may be a reflection of a
Source: Gartner (April 2008) change in the market and, therefore, changed
evaluation criteria, or a change of focus by a
vendor.
Evaluation Criteria Definitions
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Ability to Execute
Product/Service: Core goods and services

offered by the vendor that compete in/serve
Market Overview the defined market. This includes current
product/service capabilities, quality, feature
sets, skills, etc., whether offered natively or
Users and vendors in the EAS market are driven to support enterprise-class software development projects. through OEM agreements/partnerships as
These projects often differ broadly in scope and specific requirements, as well as user circumstances. These defined in the market definition and detailed in
the subcriteria.
differences lead users to a variety of solutions, and this range of demand supports broad supply options: This is
a multibillion-dollar market that has dozens of notable vendors. Gartner rates 29 vendors in this Magic
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial,
Quadrant, and we are tracking more, which may be added to future Magic Quadrants. Strategy, Organization): Viability includes
an assessment of the overall organization's
financial health, the financial and practical
Users' requirements for products in this market are continuously changing. Formerly optional features (such as
success of the business unit, and the likelihood
support of service-oriented interfaces and interoperability) have become essential, and formerly obscure of the individual business unit to continue
innovations (such as grid orientation, microkernel-style plug-in and multitenancy) have become important investing in the product, to continue offering
the product and to advance the state of the art
commercial differentiators. Some features, regulated by standards bodies and available from most competitors,
within the organization's portfolio of products.
become near-commodity (that is, they support basic Web services protocols and APIs). Other features remain
guarded vendor differentiators (such as XTP-oriented extensions). Evaluation criteria for the EAS market Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor’s
change every time we revisit the market to reflect its current state-of-the-art and evolving priorities. capabilities in all pre-sales activities and the
structure that supports them. This includes
deal management, pricing and negotiation,
Gartner has recently revised its approach to identifying markets for Magic Quadrants and other research. The pre-sales support and the overall effectiveness
change affects the market definition for this year's EAS Magic Quadrant. We have established a new category of of the sales channel.
markets — those based on prevailing use patterns or prevailing user project types (rather than vendor product
packaging). To that end, in 2007 we published a set of Magic Quadrants on project-requirements-driven Market Responsiveness and Track Record:
Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible
markets heavily using EAS technology along with other technologies, such as user interaction, composition and achieve competitive success as
tools, communication middleware and others (see "Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for New opportunities develop, competitors act,
Service-Oriented Business Application Projects, 2Q07" and "Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for customer needs evolve and market dynamics
change. This criterion also considers the
Composite-Application Projects, 2Q07"). Those markets are populated by vendors that offer complete end-to- vendor's history of responsiveness.
end technology support for named project types, and by users that look to attain such full end-to-end
technology support from one vendor. Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality,
creativity and efficacy of programs designed to
deliver the organization's message in order to
EAS technology is rarely a complete answer to a project's end-to-end requirements. Organizations and projects influence the market, promote the brand and
evaluating an EAS on its own merits are typically looking to assemble a best-of-breed suite of technologies, business, increase awareness of the products,
potentially from multiple vendors, to fulfill the total requirements of a project. This Magic Quadrant is targeted and establish a positive identification with the
product/brand and organization in the minds of
at such best-of-breed initiatives — the evaluation criteria and ratings are designed to model the best-of-breed buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a
approach to technology selection, leaving the "one vendor for the entire project" technology evaluations to the combination of publicity, promotional, thought
use-pattern-driven category of Magic Quadrants. leadership, word-of-mouth and sales activities.
Return to Top Customer Experience: Relationships,

products and services/programs that enable
clients to be successful with the products
evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways

customers receive technical support or account
Market Definition/Description support. This can also include ancillary tools,
customer support programs (and the quality
thereof), availability of user groups, service-
The EAS market is populated by vendors that offer a system software product of the following minimal level agreements, etc.
characteristics:
Operations: The ability of the organization to
meet its goals and commitments. Factors
Offers a "container" implementation for the execution of application software modules (SM): include the quality of the organizational
The container provides a "programming model" (a set of APIs for use by the SMs). structure including skills, experiences,
The container deploys as a long-running server operating system (OS) task (OS "daemon"). programs, systems and other vehicles that
enable the organization to operate effectively
SMs are programmatically addressable on request remotely through services that are associated and efficiently on an ongoing basis.
with the container.
The container allocates and uses OS resources (memory, threads, tasks) on behalf of the individual
SMs, freeing SM code from the necessity of direct interaction with the OS. Completeness of Vision
The container provides resource pooling (database connections and network connections), and the
pools are shared by the SMs. Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor
Supports distributed computing (load balancing and failover clustering between container instances). to understand buyers' wants and needs and to
translate those into products and services.
Provides an API or other means for authentication and authorization by the container. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision
Provides an API or other means for monitoring the status and minimal management (such as start and listen and understand buyers' wants and
stop) of the container instance(s). needs, and can shape or enhance those with
their added vision.
Provides an API or other means to access a file system by an SM.
Provides an API or other means of access to a relational DBMS (RDBMS) by an SM.
Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated
Provides an API or other means of invoking SMs by an SM: set of messages consistently communicated
Within the same container instance throughout the organization and externalized
through the Web site, advertising, customer
Across like container instances
programs and positioning statements.
In other unlike container types
Provides an API or other means to demarcate an atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability (ACID)-style Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling
transaction by an SM. product that uses the appropriate network of
direct and indirect sales, marketing, service
and communication affiliates that extend the
Leading EAS products typically have additional subsystems, such as those for message queuing, publish-and- scope and depth of market reach, skills,
subscribe messaging, integration adapters, business process management (BPM), rules management, system expertise, technologies, services and the
customer base.
management, multichannel access and hardware grid. These are important (and many are considered in our
ratings), but not definitional.
Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's
approach to product development and delivery
Advanced application servers enable plug-in replacements of subsystems and software-as-a-service (SaaS)- that emphasizes differentiation, functionality,
methodology and feature set as they map to
oriented features (such as support for multitenant deployments), and they support ultra-high-end transaction
current and future requirements.
processing (TP) features. These, too, are important, but not definitional.
Business Model: The soundness and logic of
Basic application servers are similar products with a lesser set of features (transaction management, external the vendor's underlying business proposition.
interoperability and other features listed above are not required at all, or are required in reduced
configurations). The EAS market is a collection of vendors that offer products that meet the requirements listed Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's
strategy to direct resources, skills and
above. offerings to meet the specific needs of
individual market segments, including
Return to Top verticals.
Innovation: Direct, related, complementary

and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise
or capital for investment, consolidation,
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria defensive or pre-emptive purposes.
Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy

A vendor is included in the Gartner EAS Magic Quadrant if it meets the following criteria: to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet
the specific needs of geographies outside the
"home" or native geography, either directly or
Offers an EAS product that matches the market definition above. through partners, channels and subsidiaries as
The minimal EAS product is delivered by the vendor (the definitional features must be available directly appropriate for that geography and market.
from the vendor as the vendor's own intellectual property or under an OEM agreement; the extended
features may be available through partners).
Product support for the minimal EAS product is available from the company or a partner.
A major release or a point release of the minimal EAS product had been delivered in the past 12 months,
or the vendor has publicly committed to delivering one in the next three months from the Magic
Quadrant's publication date.
Enough information is available to Gartner from the vendor and its customers for the possibility of a fair
rating.
This Magic Quadrant includes two open-source organizations (Apache Software Foundation and OW2
Consortium) that do not offer support for their technology projects and are not technically vendors, although
they are technology providers. To rate these for the EAS market, we must take into account not only the
technology of the named organization, but also the available support options. The supporting vendors are not
named in the rating (in part, because there are multiple options), but their offerings are still rated and
evaluated as essential to the ability of the open-source technology to compete in the commercial EAS market.
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Added
Salesforce.com — Introduced Force.com, which is an application-platform-as-a-service (APaaS) offering

implemented using an internal SaaS-enabled EAS
SpringSource — Acquired Covalent Technologies to initiate an active offering of Spring Framework and
Tomcat combination.
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Dropped
Adobe — Exited the EAS market with retirement of JRun.

Mobicents — Acquired by Red Hat.
Recursion Software — Exited the EAS market, selecting to focus mostly on mobile computing.
Aumega Networks — Not enough information available to rate.
Zend — Exited the EAS market, selecting to focus mostly on user-facing technologies.
Borland — Ceased active participation in the EAS market.
Cordys — Exited the EAS market, selecting to focus mostly on composite application platform suites.
ObjectWeb — Reorganized under the name OW2 Consortium.
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Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute
The fundamental indication of a vendor's ability to execute is its attained industry and market presence and
reputation; its record of business and technical execution; and the degree to which it has delivered the
essential core functionality expected from a competitive product.
We consider the following product characteristics as fundamental requirements for well-executing vendors,
rated under the Product/Service criteria:
Interoperability and standards compliance

Product maturity
Platform coverage
Breadth of add-ons and applications from the vendor company
Product viability and installed base
Ability to innovate with minimal disturbance to users (backward compatibility)
Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Product/Service high
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization) standard
Sales Execution/Pricing standard
Market Responsiveness and Track Record low
Marketing Execution standard
Customer Experience high
Operations low
Source: Gartner
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Completeness of Vision
The fundamental indication of completeness of vision is the degree to which a vendor anticipates and influences
the prevailing market trends.
We consider the following product characteristics as fundamental indications of a well-established market

vision, rated under the Offering (Product) Strategy criteria:
Advanced service-oriented architecture (SOA) support

Event-driven architecture (EDA) support
Tracking the latest and most impactful Web innovations
XTP features
Innovation in programming models and the use of metadata
Innovation in administration/management technologies
Innovation in internal architecture
Support for SaaS-style deployment of applications (such as multitenancy, metering and other features)
Table 2. Completeness of Vision

Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Market Understanding standard
Marketing Strategy standard
Sales Strategy standard
Offering (Product) Strategy high
Business Model low

Vertical/Industry Strategy standard
Innovation high
Geographic Strategy low
Source: Gartner
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Leaders
Leaders in the EAS market combine insightful understanding of the realities of the market, the ability to
influence the market's direction, the ability to attract a following and the capacity to lead. Leaders have the
proven ability to deliver on their vision and to support their customers through periods of stability, as well as
periods of change. The leaders control most of the market's business activity and are the primary influencers of
market evolution.
However, a leader is not always the best choice for a particular user's project. Many are spread too thinly in
their offerings, channels and geographies, which can cause them to fall behind the more narrowly focused
smaller vendors in support and commitment to individual mainstream customers. With some notable
exceptions, leaders are typically large vendors with long-term industry records. They represent safe choices,
but they are not necessarily best-of-breed vendors in all circumstances.
In 2Q08, the leaders in the EAS market are:
BEA Systems — Distributed transaction processor (DTP; components of the WebLogic family of Java-
based software)
IBM — DTP (WebSphere Application Server family and additional components of the WebSphere family of
Java-based software)
Microsoft — Collection of technologies fulfilling the function of an application server, although not offered
as a named and priced EAS product, including .NET Framework, components of .NET MSAP, IIS and some
components of Windows Server
Oracle — Oracle Application Server and additional components of Oracle Fusion Middleware suite
Red Hat — JBoss application server technology
At the time of this Magic Quadrant's publication, BEA Systems is an independent company, but Oracle has
announced a definitive agreement to acquire BEA. The acquisition is expected to close in mid-2008. In rating
Oracle and BEA for the EAS market, we took into account a degree of uncertainty for both of their product sets,
as well as the inevitable period of challenge during transition — should the acquisition be successfully
approved. However, we also recognize that both product lines have a substantial installed base and are likely to
persist for the period between publication of this Magic Quadrant and its next refresh, so the independent
standing of the two offerings will remain relevant to many users during this period. Our ratings are, therefore,
based on the merits of the two product lines, mostly because they are preacquisition.
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Challengers
Challengers excel in their ability to attract a large user following, but owe that ability to a relatively narrow
focus on a particular use pattern, vertical industry, geographic location or other specialization for EAS
technology. These vendors often trail the leading-edge industry innovations and lack a broad industry appeal;
however, they excel in their dependable execution. Some of these vendors are conservative followers of older
and well-proven technologies, whereas others offer a specialized focus. The conservative challengers are the
best choice for similarly conservative users: Their time-proven technologies and support networks may carry
certain guarantees that are not available elsewhere. The focused challengers excel in their chosen patterns and
are the best choices for a subset of EAS users, while lacking some of the capabilities for the requirements of
others.
In 2Q08, the challengers in the EAS market are:
BEA Systems — TPM (the Tuxedo family of TP technologies)

Fujitsu — Components of the Interstage family of software
IBM —TPM (including CICS transaction server [TS], IMS transaction manager [TM] and TP facility [TPF] —
all mainframe-based TP monitors)
SAP — SAP NetWeaver Application Server and additional components of the SAP NetWeaver family of
technologies
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Visionaries
Most of the vendors in the Visionaries quadrant are relatively small innovators, invested in excelling with a
highly differentiated variation of an EAS offering, usually at the expense of a lesser breadth of the total offering
when compared with established, comprehensive products. Some vendors are attempting to introduce a
radically new approach to the market, while others are addressing some limitations of mainstream options.
Some of the visionaries will eventually be acquired by the leaders or merge with their peers; few may grow to
become market leaders themselves. Others will limit their target markets to focus on their core vertical or
geographic competencies and become niche players, or they will grow to be challengers. Some will exit the
market. Visionary vendors usually have relatively small numbers of customers and production deployments
and, therefore, represent higher long-term risk; however, they offer the greatest opportunity for differentiation
for users looking for the competitive use of IT.
In 2Q08, the visionaries in the EAS market are:
Appistry
GigaSpaces
jNetx
Kabira Technologies
Majitek
OpenCloud
Paremus
Salesforce.com (the Force.com EAS as a service offering)
SpringSource (the merged Apache Tomcat and Spring Framework offering)
Sun Microsystems
WareLite
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Niche Players
Niche players operate well in a vertical industry, a geographic segment of the EAS market or the OEM market
segment. Niche players are often specialists in their areas, and may represent the optimum choice for some
projects and for some IT organizations by offering the specialized expertise, more-relevant support practices,
flexible terms and conditions, and greater dedication to a particular market segment and its customers.
Some niche players look to grow their businesses to challenge the leaders. Others discover innovative solutions
that attract interest beyond their target market segments and emerge as visionaries. However, most niche
players are focused on serving their market segments and customer bases, and they generally limit their
ambitions to maintaining their segment excellence. Most niche players serve their historic customer bases and
lack the ability or the interest to invest in carrying these customers forward. As their investment in the market
declines, some of them will be dropped from Magic Quadrant coverage because they are no longer viable,
competitive options for new users.
In 2Q08, the niche players in the EAS market are:
Apache Software Foundation (Geronimo)

Caucho
Hitachi (components of the uCosminexus family of software)
Iona (Orbix family of CORBA-based products)
Kingdee
Micro Focus
NEC (WebOTX application server, components of WebOTX family of software)
OW2 Consortium (Jonas)
Pramati Technologies (Pramati server)
Sybase
TmaxSoft — DTP (the Java Enterprise User Solution family of Java-based EAS technology)
TmaxSoft — TPM (the Tmax family of transaction-processing technologies)
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Vendor Strengths and Cautions
Apache Software Foundation (Geronimo)

Strengths
Open-source business model and community support provide a viable foundation for growth and a
channel for adoption.
Excellent business reputation adds credibility to otherwise modestly known technology.
Business endorsement, support offering and embedded use by IBM WebSphere division open an
enterprise adoption channel and encourage growing "mind share" for the project.
Early support of the latest Java specifications, including Java EE 5, attracts prospects looking for the
latest technology and is evidence of the company's commitment to standards.
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Cautions
Its small and slow-growing enterprise installed base is hard to accelerate in a mature and largely
saturated Java EAS market.
Limited adoption of IBM WebSphere Community Edition based on Geronimo negates some of the
advantages of IBM's backing and challenges IBM's business commitment.
Late to the Java EAS market, although the leading innovation is evolving away from Java EE and toward
XTP and APaaS.
Strong competition from the more established and more visible JBoss Application Server and,
increasingly, from GlassFish.
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Appistry
Strengths
Leading-edge, grid-based application platform (Appistry Enterprise Application Fabric [EAF]) targeting
transactional and analytical applications.
High-profile, large-scale (more than 400 CPU cores in one case) and business-critical deployments in
large, Global 2000-class companies.
Support for .NET and Java environments.
Aggressive "razor and blade" strategy (Appistry Open Distribution) based on free Appistry EAF use
(development, testing and production) and sales of add-ons for management, large-scale deployments
and energy saving.
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Cautions
Ability to invest for growth in the mainstream market is limited.

U.S.-only commercial operations make the company less appealing for non-U.S.-based and multinational
companies.
Limited number of customers in production (approximately 20).
Limited, albeit growing, support from system integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs)
developing applications and tools for Appistry EAF.
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BEA Systems (DTP)

Strengths
Large installed base, including strong presence in mission-critical business software, extensive partner
ecosystem and market leadership in the fast-growing IT market in the People's Republic of China.
Industry-leading implementation of Java EE specification in business and engineering terms is first among
leading vendors with the full production implementation of Java EE 5.
Comprehensive suite of middleware technologies, while retaining application and platform neutrality,
establishes BEA as the leading independent player in the application infrastructure market.
Market-leading technology vision, including advances in cloud computing, virtualization, XTP, event
processing, microkernel architecture, standards support, support and the use of open-source resources.
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Cautions
Although it is clear that some BEA technology will become part of strategic Oracle offerings and some will
be well-supported for the near future, the pending acquisition by Oracle casts doubt on long-term
viability of products, and predicts some period of realignment and shifts in strategy, investment and
personnel.
Gradual, but persistent, commoditization of the core Java EE market challenges BEA to excel in new
markets or lose its leadership position in business software infrastructure.
Prices deemed too high by the majority of users and prospects, and limited diversity of offerings, hinder
the company's ability for bundle-price discounting that is available to its competitors.
Limited differentiation in development tools and modest adoption in programmer-productivity-sensitive
projects.
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BEA Systems (TPM)

Strengths
Excellent reputation of Tuxedo with its large installed base of high-end, mission-critical projects creates
opportunities for upsell of software and services.
Excellent high-performance, event-driven internal architecture of Tuxedo — visionary for its time — still
delivering market-leading performance and QOS, which ensures continuing market presence.
Architecture is well-fit to participate in new SOA initiatives, enabling continuing use of Tuxedo-based
applications in modern SOA and event-driven designs.
Certain to continue to be well-supported post-Oracle-acquisition given the impressive list of high-end
users, strong adoption in the People's Republic of China, limited ongoing R&D costs and dependable long-
term revenue stream.
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Cautions
Lack of support of Java and the use of the now proprietary programming model of XTMI render the
product legacy for most technology planners, thus reducing the product's appeal for new projects.
Slow and incremental R&D investment by BEA sealed the product's legacy status, and change of
ownership to Oracle will likely prompt further doubts about long-term product prospects.
Small and declining ecosystem of partners reduces the completeness and appeal of the "whole product"
technology and services offering.
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Caucho
Strengths
In business for more than 10 years, Caucho has built up a large installed base of Resin EAS, which it
claims exceeds 7,000 organizations, including CNet, Kodak and salesforce.com.
Reputation for high-performance technology (including challenging performance of the popular Apache
Web Server and Apache Tomcat) helps spread the word and improve name recognition.
Creative use of open-source and supported closed-source product distributions broadens channels.
"Clean room" implementation of PHP 5 (Quercus) over a Java Virtual Machine uniquely enables colocation
of PHP and Java software, and claims to exceed performance of the popular Zend PHP engine.
Unique high-performance, binary Web services protocol (Hessian).
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Cautions
Not certified for J2EE or Java EE, thus lacking assurance of portability for alternative Java EAS and limits
mainstream user appeal.
Majority of users are leading-edge IT and use only the high-performance subset of the product, including
the Web server and the servlet engine, as part of best-of-breed infrastructure assembly, thus limiting
mainstream presence or record.
Focus on few core innovations distracts the company from tracking most mainstream computing
innovations (SaaS, event processing and XTP), further limiting mainstream relevance.
Minimal investment, record or skill in product marketing leads to poor name recognition beyond the
narrow circle of the leading-edge engineering teams.
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Fujitsu
Strengths
Interstage Application Server has an established track record in high-end, mission-critical use scenarios
(proven zero-downtime durability and linear performance scalability).
Established channels to Global 1000 enterprises in the U.S. by Fujitsu's group business (such as in
hardware) and Interstage Application Server-based comprehensive application infrastructure suite,
including strong capabilities in repository (CentraSite) and BPM.
Mainframe-integration-friendly support (mainframe-operation-class batch application framework and
COBOL support).
Corporate commitment to increase revenue (including Interstage brand) from global business revenue.
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Cautions
Number of certified engineers from partners is still limited outside Japan.

Lack of support for XTP; not enough support for SaaS and EDA/complex event processing (CEP).
Limited industry-specific solutions outside Japan.
Limited recognition as an EAS vendor outside Japan.
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GigaSpaces
Strengths
Fast-growing company, more than doubling revenue every year since 2003, with a rapidly expanding
customer base (approximately 100) in financial services, telecom, Web commerce, online
gaming/gambling, defense industries and in the OEM market.
Sophisticated XTP-oriented, grid-based platform based on distributed caching technology and OSGi
deployment architecture.
Support for popular open-source technology (Tomcat, Spring Framework, Hibernate, Mule, MySQL and
dynamic languages) makes it appealing to mainstream enterprises and ISVs.
Progressive vision for cloud computing (multitenancy, support for Amazon EC2, metering and billing),
event processing features (such as continuous query), integration with Microsoft technology (.NET,
Spring .NET and Excel) and Web 2.0 technologies (support for dynamic languages).
Return to Top
Cautions
Small company size limits GigaSpaces' ability to invest for growth in the mainstream market.
Complex, technology-rich platform in rapid evolution may prove challenging to deploy and manage for
less-technically savvy users.
Fast growth in multiple geographies may create support issues, given the company's relatively small
support organization.
Market awareness and third-party support, albeit improving, is still significantly lower than that of the
more established EAS vendors.
Return to Top
Hitachi
Strengths
uCosminexus Application Server has proven, stable, high-quality products, along with strong consulting
(SOA) methodology capabilities and strong data layer capabilities.
Synergy with strong access channel to Global 100 via storage business outside Japan.
Established track record in high-end TP for mission-critical use, with strong management capability for
24/7 operations and aggressive support for XTP.
Comprehensive application infrastructure coverage.
Return to Top
Cautions
Limited support for SaaS and EDA/CEP.

Limited presence of Cosminexus brand outside Japan.
Small number of solution partners outside Japan.
Limited premium professional services/support outside Japan.
Return to Top
IBM (DTP)
Strengths
Vast installed base, ample third-party support and widely recognized brand for WebSphere Application
Server (WAS) EAS technology.
Extensive WAS product line that covers a wide spectrum of market segments, from low-end, open-
source-based (Apache Geronimo) Community Edition to high-end WAS for z/OS.
Comprehensive WAS-based, SOA-enabling application infrastructure portfolio, including portal, EAS,
enterprise service bus, BPM technology, composition tools, repository/registry, development tools,
security and management.
Advanced XTP, CEP and virtualization capabilities (WebSphere Extreme Scale and WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise) incrementally adding to standard WAS.
Return to Top
Cautions
Reputation of more-complex and harder-to-deal-with products than primary competitors.

Late to introducing certified support for Java EE 5 throughout the entire product line (Java EE 5 is
currently supported only in WAS Community Edition 2.0). Cross-family Java EE 5 certification is expected
to be completed in 4Q08 as part of WAS 7.0.
Limited ISV support for WAS Community Edition, WAS z/OS and WAS on System i (ex AS/400).
Relatively small, albeit growing, installed base (approximately 100 customers overall) for WebSphere
Virtual Edition and WebSphere Extreme Scale.
Vision for SaaS-style application deployments is still in the early stages of evolution.
Return to Top
IBM (TPM)
Strengths
Large, loyal installed base for IBM's TPMs: CICS TS, IMS TM and TPF.
Large, profitable and still growing TPM business ensures long-term viability and support from IBM.
Enterprise-class scalability, availability and manageability of IBM's TPMs are still unmatched by
mainstream Java-based and .NET EAS products.
Incremental injection of modern technology (Java, XML, Web services, middleware connectivity and event
processing) makes IBM's TPMs first-class citizens in SOA initiatives.
Return to Top
Cautions
Growing user concerns about future availability of CICS, IMS and TPF skills.
The high cost of entry (hardware, software and skills) for IBM's TPMs for new users inhibits expansion of
the installed base.
The growing number of successful mainframe migration/replacement projects encourages IBM's TPM
users to consider shifting to alternative software/hardware platforms.
User activity related to IBM's TPM-based applications is primarily focused on maintenance and
incremental evolution. Most new TP projects (although often requiring integration of IBM's TPM-
established applications) go to Java EE or .NET-based platforms.
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Iona
Strengths
Loyal installed base for the Orbix CORBA-based line of EAS technology, especially in telecom, financial
services and transportation.
Mature product proven in large and business-critical SOA initiatives and embedded applications.
Available on a variety of hardware platforms, including IBM z/OS mainframe.
Support for native interoperability and integration with IBM's CICS TS and IMS TM.
Return to Top
Cautions
Static Orbix business, mostly driven by upgrades and maintenance revenue from established users.
Popularity and industry support for CORBA rapidly declining in most vertical industries.
Orbix customers' activity mostly focused on incremental evolution of existing applications. Few new Orbix
project starts.
Slow erosion in Orbix customer base because CORBA projects are reaching their end of life.
Return to Top
jNetX
Strengths
jNetX N(x) is one of the few commercially available implementations of the JSLEE standard specifications
(JSR 22 and 240) for Java-based, event-driven EAS, and the product is also being progressively
integrated with mainstream Java EE platforms.
High-performance, event-driven EAS that provides high-availability, nonstop operations and multitenancy
capabilities.
Rich set of development, rule engine, resource adapters (protocols), monitoring and management tools
addressing the needs of the telecom service provider market.
High-profile production installed base (between 20 and 30), especially in European telecom companies,
and a growing number of system integrator, ISV and telecom equipment provider partners.
Return to Top
Cautions
Slow, limited following challenges long-term viability of the entire JSLEE specification.
Undivided jNetX focus on servicing the telecom market inhibits adoption from users in other vertical
sectors looking for an XTP-style, high-performance EAS that would otherwise be potentially interested in
N(x).
Risk-averse telecom companies are still skeptical about the viability of Java-based platforms for carrier-
grade network applications, which may slow mainstream adoption.
Mounting competition from software megavendors (BEA Systems, IBM and Oracle) that offer basic
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet-based products in the telecom market.
Return to Top
Kabira Technologies
Strengths
Good installed base (more than 100) in telecom, financial services, and defense in North America and
Europe.
Proved and leading edge; high-performance, event-driven application platform — Kabira Transaction
Platform — that also supports high-availability requirements.
Go-to-market strategy focused on telecom and financial services market, including the provisioning of
protocol adapters, connectors and Kabira's own packaged application solutions.
Advanced technology and strong vision for XTP, event-processing and metadata-driven (UML) application
development.
Return to Top
Cautions
Small company size limits Kabira's ability to invest for growth in the mainstream market.
Although productive, the company's UML-based development environment is unusual for most
developers.
Current lack of support for popular programming models (such as .NET, Java EE and Spring) inhibits
adoption by mainstream enterprises and ISVs until the release of Java support in 2H08.
Limited support from ISVs developing applications and tools for Kabira Transaction Platform.
Return to Top
Kingdee
Strengths
Aggressive implementation of Java platform specification (first Chinese middleware vendor to obtain J2EE
certification and JEE 5 certification [fourth in the world]) to Kingdee Middleware (The Shenzhen Kingdee
Middleware Company) Apusic application server.
Proven track record in demanding segments, such as banking.
Significant penetration in government industry, and large installed base of ERP applications in People's
Republic of China.
Aggressive support for SaaS and open-source-based development.
Return to Top
Cautions
Lack of support for SaaS, EDA/CEP and XTP; not enough support for open-source software.
Limited partners (solution-design skill/product skill) and resources outside People's Republic of China.
Lacks a powerful vision/execution to significantly increase its presence outside the Chinese market.
Limited global support.
Return to Top
Majitek
Strengths
Majitek's EAS (Majitek GridSystem), one of the first examples of an XTP platform, is focused on providing
dynamic high-availability and massive scalability for Java-based applications.
Product based on leading edge, but increasingly popular, open-source technologies, such as Spring and
OSGi.
SaaS-oriented capabilities for fine-grained billing and role-based security.
High-profile partnership with Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent focused on select high-growth geographies (such
as the Middle East); massively investing in the development of "greenfield" IP-enabled communities
(towns, airports and ports).
Return to Top
Cautions
Small company size limits its ability to invest for rapid growth and geographic expansion.
Commercial operations in only Australia and the Middle East make the company unappealing for U.S. or
European organizations.
Small (less than 10) installed base of production customers for GridSystem.
Out-of-the-box support only for Web services and Java Messaging Service requires development of
custom adapters to connect through other interoperability protocols.
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Micro Focus
Strengths
Solid reputation as a reliable provider of enterprise software for IBM mainframe COBOL-based
environments.
Large installed base and third-party support for core Micro Focus COBOL technology in large and midsize
organizations.
Long-standing experience in providing CICS-compatible platform middleware products used for
development/testing and runtime execution of CICS/COBOL applications.
EAS offering packaged to support plain COBOL applications (Micro Focus Server for COBOL), SOA-enabled
COBOL (Micro Focus Server for SOA) and CICS/IMS COBOL migration (Micro Focus Server Enterprise
Edition) is designed to appeal to midsize and large organizations.
Return to Top
Cautions
Go-to-market strategy is mainly focused on CICS- and IMS-based application modernization (SOA
enablement and replatforming), which narrows Micro Focus EAS appeal primarily to IBM-mainframe
users.
Minimal investments in building mind share.
Limited vision for emerging architectural paradigms, such as EDA, XTP and SaaS.
Small, albeit growing, production installed base for Micro Focus Server for SOA and Micro Focus Server
Enterprise Edition.
Return to Top
Microsoft
Strengths
Massive installed base and large community of developers and ISVs makes Microsoft's nonstandard EAS
offering (including .NET Framework, parts of MSAP and IIS) a de facto standard.
Visionary plans for SaaS platform technology and modeling-based software engineering ("Oslo") use vast
company engineering and business resources to try to catch up with and surpass leading competitors.
Deep integration with Windows OS optimizes performance, improves ease of deployment and use, and, in
some cases, reduces the costs of engineering and the deployment of business applications.
Long-standing commitment to developers and ease-of-use has produced a near-dominating position of
Microsoft EAS with small and midsize software projects.
Growing adoption of MSAP in mission-critical enterprise projects and improving Microsoft practices in
support of high-end IT organizations.
Return to Top
Cautions
Exclusive Microsoft reliance on Windows OS limits users' deployment options to a single OS and a single
vendor for much of the software infrastructure portfolio.
Microsoft does not identify its EAS capability as a distinct product. Technology representing the
functionality of an EAS is spread across several products, confusing some users and complicating
competitive positioning against Java EAS vendors.
Late entry into the SOA market (despite the early lead with Web services) and limited professional
services business holds back Microsoft's share in enterprise SOA-focused projects.
Strategic focus on the mass-market is the core of Microsoft's business success, but leads to delays in
adopting important high-end enterprise initiatives (such as XTP, EDA and SOA).
Return to Top
NEC
Strengths
Strong, established presence of WebOTX application server in telecom and other ubiquitous areas.
Established track record and advanced features for high-performance/demanding, mission-critical areas.
Strong capability of standard specification implementation.
Strong focus on evolving and selling WebOTX Java EE application in select deployment scenarios.
Return to Top
Cautions
Lack of support for SaaS, EDA/CEP and XTP.

Expanding globally to create closer partnerships with global vendors that have products that conflict with
WebOTX may limit NEC's application server product presence/opportunity outside Japan.
Narrowing NEC's product portfolio may limit opportunities to expand sales/marketing strategy and
organization, especially inside/outside Japan.
Little presence as an SOA platform vendor outside Japan.
Return to Top
OpenCloud
Strengths
Rhino is one of the few expert implementations of the JSLEE standard (JSR 22 and 240) — advanced
specification for event-driven EAS.
Promising business model of initial strong focus on the telecom vertical market, combined with early
presence in other industries in preparation for later leverage and broadening of the target market.
High-performance technology architecture differentiates Rhino from common mainstream EAS.
Return to Top
Cautions
Relatively small installed base of Rhino (fewer than 10 deployments in production) challenges product
viability with prospects.
Slow and limited following challenges long-term viability of the entire JSLEE specification.
Limited ecosystem of ISV and system integration partners reduces available breadth of channels.
Lack of support for the mainstream EAS model of Java EE discourages mainstream adoption and forces
OpenCloud into the role of missionary sale of the little-known JSLEE specification.
Return to Top
Oracle
Strengths
Large and growing installed base for Oracle EAS technology, comparable to that of major competitors.
Successful indirect sales strategy. Oracle sells more EAS technology through partners than any of its
competitors.
Visionary acquisition of distributed, caching technology specialist Tangosol paves the way for strong
Oracle entry in the XTP market.
Oracle EAS technology is at the core of the Oracle Fusion Middleware strategic application infrastructure
stack, which, in turn, is meant to be the foundation for the upcoming Oracle Fusion Applications next-
generation business applications suite.
Poised to gain strength in high-end enterprise projects, as well as leading Java EE (WebLogic Server) and
Java Platform, Standard Edition (JRockit) products through the acquisition of BEA Systems.
Return to Top
Cautions
Although growing, industry support and market awareness of Oracle EAS technology is still lower than for
its primary competitors.
Oracle EAS technology doesn't have the same amount of large, business-critical projects in production as
its primary competitors.
Late in delivering support for Java EE 5 to be introduced with Oracle Application Server 11g R.1 (not
before 3Q08).
Announced acquisition of BEA Systems creates dualism in Oracle's EAS strategy between proprietary
Oracle Application Server and leading, popular BEA Systems' WebLogic Server.
Vision for SaaS-style application deployments is still in the initial stages of evolution.
Return to Top
OW2 Consortium (Jonas)

Strengths
Open-source business model and community support form an agile foundation for the long-term project
evolution.
Long-term support by Groupe Bull ensures financial support and commercial backing to business
initiatives.
Partnership initiatives in People's Republic of China might open a large new market for the product and
the organization.
Recently rearchitected the core of the product for native support of the OSGi standard, which promises
advanced flexibility and extensibility of the product.
Return to Top
Cautions
Minimal installed base and name recognition discourages community growth and delays the proof of
technical viability of the product.
The merger with China-based Orientware shifts some of the organization's focus and resources away
from its traditional partnerships and channels in Europe and North America.
Slow R&D investment from limited-backing organizations challenges the project's ability to compete with
increasingly aggressive open- and closed-source alternatives.
Lack of investment in emerging EAS trends, such as XTP, SaaS, model-driven programming and CEP,
hold back the project's ability to differentiate in a saturated market.
Return to Top
Paremus
Strengths
Early entry in the XTP market with one of the first grid-based application platforms (Infiniflow Service
Fabric).
EAS strategy originally based on industry standard technologies, leveraging OSGi and a service
component architecture.
Support for multiple Java development frameworks, including Spring Dynamic Modules, Google's Guice
and Apache iPOJO.
Open-source-driven development and go-to-market strategy (CodeCauldron-Newton project provides an
open-source implementation of the core Infiniflow technology).
Return to Top
Cautions
Ability to invest for growth is limited by its small size.

Geographic coverage concentrated on the U.K. and New York limits the company's ability to support
multinational organizations.
Small (five to 10) production installed base.
Limited, albeit growing, support for Infiniflow from system integrators and ISVs.
Return to Top
Pramati Technologies
Strengths
Lightweight (small footprint), simple characteristics of Pramati Server (for embedded use).
Stable revenue stream with powerful OEM partners.
Keeping resources in India for low operation cost.
Small and simple organization due to OEM business model (little resources for marketing and sales) to
focus on R&D.
Return to Top
Cautions
Lack of support for SaaS, SOA Inside, EDA/CEP and XTP.

Limited coverage/scope of features, with limited support for standards.
Limited number of OEM partners.
Basic set of application development tools providing limited support for complex, enterprise-class
applications.
Return to Top
Red Hat (JBoss)

Strengths
Clear leadership in the open-source EAS market, with the largest installed base and largest partner
following further enhanced by the backing by Red Hat — the industry-leading Linux vendor.
Excellent technical reputation of the core JBoss EAS technology.
Effective business strategy of separating JBoss.org (the pure open-source "sandbox") and JBoss.com
(enterprise-oriented, supported and certified technology suites) makes the technology available and
appealing to open-source enthusiasts and mainstream-business technology buyers.
Acquisition of Mobicents gives Red Hat's middleware portfolio and platform of high-performance
computing, especially optimized for the telecom market, the only open-source implementation of the
JSLEE standard.
Return to Top
Cautions
Potentially conflicting priorities between the company's Linux business and the OS-independent JBoss
middleware business.
Growing presence of competing open-source EAS offerings from Apache and Sun Microsystems, both
ahead on standards support in Java EE.
Reputation and user expectation of low costs limits the ability of Red Hat to grow income by price
increases and forces the company into adjacent businesses, including low-margin professional services.
New business leadership reassesses the overall company business strategy and will likely challenge the
established JBoss culture of software experimentation and innovation in favor of business priorities.
The challenge of transforming JBoss momentum from the established, but narrow, application server
market to the broader, but essential, application infrastructure market requires a new marketing, sales
and business outlook.
Return to Top
salesforce.com
Strengths
Large application installed base for salesforce.com's CRM as a service and consistent revenue growth,
which is projected by salesforce.com to exceed $1 billion in 2009, creates strong business momentum.
Force.com is well-ahead of all major players in SaaS and APaaS markets, as well as in mind share,
forcing most competitors to catch up.
Native XTP-based and metadata-driven platform technology for APaaS is designed from the ground up to
optimize "as-a-service" performance (including large transaction volumes, user integrity, flexible
scalability up and down, and ease of management).
Large and growing ecosystem of partners.
Return to Top
Cautions
APaaS business model is unproven and must address skepticism of conservative, mainstream enterprise
base.
Lack of an on-premises variant of the platform will deter some users.
Nonstandard technology, programming language and programming model expose the company to
competitive challenges and limit its mainstream enterprise appeal.
Most of the application user base includes small and midsize enterprises, and the APaaS installed base is
minimal due to its newness.
Emerging competitive offerings from large, industry-leading software vendors (such as Microsoft, Oracle
and SAP).
Return to Top
SAP
Strengths
The hybrid Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP)/Java EE SAP NetWeaver Application
Server is at the core of the SAP NetWeaver application infrastructure stack, which is the foundation for
most of SAP's application portfolio (established and future).
Proprietary ABAP technology is long proven in supporting thousands of large-scale, transactional SAP
application deployments.
One of the first vendors to release a Java EE 5-compliant application server (embedded in SAP
NetWeaver Composition Environment composite application toolset).
By being embedded with SAP applications and other NetWeaver products (such as Enterprise Portal or
Composition Environment), it appeals to SAP clients and partners as a default EAS choice.
Return to Top
Cautions
Primary focus is on supporting SAP's packaged applications and on enabling SAP-centric, composite
applications limits SAP NetWeaver Application Server appeal to ISVs and users looking for a general-
purpose EAS.
SAP NetWeaver Application Server has minimal penetration and appeal outside SAP's applications
installed base.
Although steadily growing, ISVs' support for SAP NetWeaver Application Server is lower than for most of
its leading competitors.
SAP NetWeaver Application Server/Java EE mostly used for support for low to midscale applications front-
ending SAP applications; rarely for large-scale, stand-alone, transactional systems.
Limited SAP vision for "SOA Inside," XTP support (distributed caching) and SaaS capabilities in SAP
NetWeaver Application Server.
Return to Top
SpringSource
Strengths
Large, loyal community of developers using open-source Spring Framework in combination with partners'
application servers, especially including Apache Tomcat, which is now supported by SpringSource
following the recent acquisition of Covalent.
Large and growing community of partners bundling Spring Framework into advanced and visionary Java
enterprise offerings (BEA, GigaSpaces, Majitek and Paremus).
Broad name recognition as an innovative open-source provider of Java solutions.
Creative use of the popular OSGi specification as the component assembly model for business
applications (Spring Dynamic Modules).
Return to Top
Cautions
New to the business of a stand-alone application server (SpringSource Enterprise Application Platform);
will have to establish new practices for marketing, selling and supporting its offering, as well as
developing new channels and partnerships.
Competitive stance relative to key partners creates the danger of losing some distribution channels.
Entering a saturated and mature EAS market with modest execution resources requires a breakthrough
vision initiative to be differentiated and noticed.
Not a certified or complete Java EE offering, which limits mainstream appeal.
Return to Top
Sun Microsystems
Strengths
Massive worldwide hardware installed base and name recognition form a good basis for software upsell
and leadership.
Industry leadership in defining Java and Java EE standards injects Sun into all Java-related industry
initiatives.
Strategic all-company commitment to the open-source software distribution model.
Comprehensive set of application infrastructure technologies, including the well-established
identity/directory offering, and growing momentum of the new GlassFish EAS (including in the telecom
market) — now extended with an RDBMS (post-acquisition of MySQL).
Return to Top
Cautions
Modest historic adoption of Sun EAS offerings and a mixed record in software acquisitions and the
software industry overall.
Late to market with a new variation of an open-source EAS; facing a dominating, established, open-
source alternative and several well-entrenched, closed-source options.
Slowing adoption growth of Java EE solutions that will gradually be complemented or replaced by next-
generation Java and other frameworks for ease of use or XTP.
Company's historic alignment and financial dependence on the server and OS market challenges the
company's total resources and strategic commitment available for application infrastructure and EAS
investment.
Return to Top
Sybase
Strengths
Sybase EAServer supports the PowerScript programming model as well as Java EE and CORBA on the
same runtime engine; it is the best choice for migrating PowerBuilder applications into the three-tier
architecture.
Strategic company investment in the enterprise mobile-computing space attracts new prospects and
offers new channels.
Visionary investment in event processing for radio frequency identification (RFID) processing (RFID
Anywhere).
EAServer is extensively used internally at Sybase for new product development.
Return to Top
Cautions
Minimal name recognition in the general EAS market and minimal company-marketing efforts to improve
it.
Small, niche installed base.
EAS is a low-priority item on the company's business development agenda and lacks management
commitment.
Limited investment in competitive R&D or current standards support for EAS market.
Conservative installed base is slow adopting new software releases and features, which discourages
innovation.
Return to Top
TmaxSoft (DTP)
Strengths
Chief technology officer's powerful leadership and quick decision making over comprehensive
infrastructure product portfolio and open-source technologies.
Aggressive early implementation of new Java specifications (Java EE 5-certified and Java EE 6) and open-
source technologies.
Four SOA-based, integrated frameworks: user interface framework, interface framework, business
framework and data framework.
Leverages established TmaxSoft TPM customer base (especially in banking segment).
Return to Top
Cautions
Behind leading vendors in some key innovative areas (such as SaaS, EDA/CEP and XTP).
Limited customer base, resources and partners (solution-design skill/product skill) outside South Korea.
Limited resources for offering premium support outside South Korea.
Need to demonstrate TmaxSoft's business value proposition as a comprehensive infrastructure vendor to
expand its EAS business.
Return to Top
TmaxSoft (TPM)
Strengths
Proven track record of TPM for mainframe applications.

Prevailing presence in middleware market in South Korea (especially banking segment).
Proven framework for mainframe applications (MF) rehosting with TmaxSoft's TPM-embedded product,
called Open Framework.
Proven one-stop-shop offering in South Korea (especially banking segment).
Return to Top
Cautions
Limited customer base and partners (solution-design skill/product skill) outside South Korea.
Behind leaders on some key innovations (such as EDA/CEP features).
Limited global support (outside South Korea).
Lack of strong scenario as alternative choice against other competitors' TPM products outside South
Korea.
Return to Top
WareLite
Strengths
WareLite's EAS (WL BOSS) is one of the first event-driven application platforms available in the market.
Native, event-driven design of WL BOSS focused on high performance in transactional applications.
Specific focus on sensor-enabled applications (accelerometers, temperature sensors, humidity sensors
and RFID).
Vertical, event-driven applications targeting retail, museum safety and security, and travel and
transportation.
Return to Top
Cautions
Limited investments available for rapid growth and geographic expansion.

Commercial operations focused on Europe limit the company's appeal for American or Asia/Pacific
companies.
Windows-only-based platform inhibits adoption from Unix/Linux/Java-minded organizations.
Small production installed base (less than 10).
Return to Top
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The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

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Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers, 2Q08 Page 1 of 18

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application

Yefim V. Natis, Massimo Pezzini, Kimihiko Iijima, Raffaella Favata

Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00156200

What You Need to Know Acronym Key and Glossary Terms

CICS Customer Information

Magic Quadrant OS operating system

QOS quality of service

RFID radio frequency

SIP Session Initiation Protocol

SOAP Simple Object Access

TPM transaction processing

WAS WebSphere Application

XTP extreme transaction

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for

Product/Service: Core goods and services

Return to Top Customer Experience: Relationships,

evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy

Salesforce.com — Introduced Force.com, which is an application-platform-as-a-service (APaaS) offering

Adobe — Exited the EAS market with retirement of JRun.

Interoperability and standards compliance

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

We consider the following product characteristics as fundamental indications of a well-established market

Advanced service-oriented architecture (SOA) support

Table 2. Completeness of Vision

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Business Model low

In 2Q08, the leaders in the EAS market are:

In 2Q08, the challengers in the EAS market are:

BEA Systems — TPM (the Tuxedo family of TP technologies)

In 2Q08, the visionaries in the EAS market are:

In 2Q08, the niche players in the EAS market are:

Apache Software Foundation (Geronimo)

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Apache Software Foundation (Geronimo)

Ability to invest for growth in the mainstream market is limited.

BEA Systems (DTP)

BEA Systems (TPM)

Number of certified engineers from partners is still limited outside Japan.

Limited support for SaaS and EDA/CEP.

Reputation of more-complex and harder-to-deal-with products than primary competitors.

Lack of support for SaaS, EDA/CEP and XTP.

OW2 Consortium (Jonas)

Ability to invest for growth is limited by its small size.

Lack of support for SaaS, SOA Inside, EDA/CEP and XTP.

Red Hat (JBoss)

Proven track record of TPM for mainframe applications.

Limited investments available for rapid growth and geographic expansion.

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