On April 10th Red Hat announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire JBoss. By acquiring JBoss, Red Hat expects to accelerate the shift to service-oriented architectures (SOA), by enabling the next generation of Web-enabled applications running on a low-cost, open source platform.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Competitors in the commercial middleware space need to prepare for open source in a number of ways.

► In terms of pricing/distribution, commercial competitors should be more flexible on licensing terms (especially for ISVs) to compete with “free” open source products.

► In terms of actual feature sets, commercial vendors should look at Hibernate and eventually plan for object relational and aspect oriented programming without pushing it too hard in markets that aren’t ready for it.

► Open Source competitors should continue to beef up their middleware stacks to compete with Red Hat/JBoss, paying particular attention to distributed transactions, and process and ESB support.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Users should consider Red/Hat JBoss middleware technology if they are pre-disposed to open source solutions and have a staff with strong J2EE skills.

► Users should keep in mind that, unlike OS software, middleware will (or at least should) touch more developers, some of which will possess more limited programming skills. Therefore there is a need for easy-to-use development tools.

► When evaluating open source, users should ask commercial vendors for special terms or pricing to match what they may be able to get for comparable technology from open source players.

Symantec Moves toward Integrating IM into Broader Messaging Solutions

On April 3rd Symantec announced Symantec IM Manager 8.0, a secure instant messaging (IM) and real-time communications (RTC) management solution that enables organizations to control the use of public IM services and enterprise RTC platforms and manage compliance with legal and corporate governance policies.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Traditional AV competitors need to shore up their instant messaging offerings. McAfee needs to develop a strategy that provides users with IM tools, and eventually an integrated solution, while Trend Micro needs to build out its IM product to include policy compliance and data retention support.

► Secure messaging providers, including e-mail and IM security vendors, should continue to build out their solutions to include policy management and unified message management. These vendors should consider partnerships or acquisitions that will quickly broaden their solutions offerings.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Symantec messaging customers should feel reassured that their investments are secure and that the company continues to build out its solutions offering to address emerging trends and threats, namely in the instant messaging arena.

► Currently, users should consider the Symantec IM Manager 8.0 product, slated for revision again by year-end, for its strong IM security features, which stem from the IMlogic acquisition. Customers should compare this product, pricing, and support to competing IM appliances, including Akonix.

► In Q4 2006, customers should look for this product to be integrated with SMS 8200 for those interested in a single messaging platform. For example, administrators will likely find it valuable to have a single point of storage for both IM and e-mail archives, as well as a single interface for managing those records.

New Report Available Enterprise Threat Protection: The End of the Stand-Alone Era A new survey of U.S. enterprises conducted by Current Analysis confirms that the threat protection market is in a state of transition: enterprises continue a steady march from stand-alone, best-of-breed threat protection offerings to broader “solution suites”. The study also reveals another significant market transition is in the offing: even the more comprehensive packages are expected to give way, in relatively short order, to solutions that are sourced in association with the underlying operating system (OS). Clearly, Microsoft’s recent forays into this segment of the information security market are having an impact on the enterprise expectations and market evolution. Available for Purchase Online

Microsoft Beefs Up BI with ProClarity Purchase

On April 3rd Microsoft acquired ProClarity Corp., an established BI vendor based in Boise, ID. ProClarity is an established Microsoft partner, has provided Microsoft-based BI products since 1999, and has engaged for several years in extensive joint sales with Microsoft.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Competitors will need to point out that Microsoft has simply made an acquisition. It hasn’t presented a clear vision for the BI market, and has clumsily lumped together overlapping product families without any details on how they will co-exist, integrate, or converge over the next several years.

► Competitors should note that Microsoft has acquired a second- or third-tier BI vendor, and that ProClarity doesn’t become “best-of-breed” overnight.

► Other leading SOA platform and/or DBMS vendors (e.g., Oracle, IBM, and SAP) should scout for top-tier BI vendor acquisitions, both to beef up their own analytics features and to neutralize Microsoft’s BI momentum coming out of the ProClarity purchase.o a similar extent.

► Competing BI vendors should stress that the largest BI partner ecosystems belong to the dominant vendors (e.g., Business Objects, Cognos, SAS Institute, and Hyperion). Microsoft/ProClarity has a long way to go before it can match the market leaders’ extensive professional services and systems integration partnerships.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Enterprise customers that have a strong Microsoft orientation should scrutinize Microsoft/ProClarity’s evolving BI development roadmap. Microsoft is making BI a major theme for its Windows Vista/Longhorn wave and beyond.

► Enterprises that have committed to Microsoft’s existing BI offerings or ProClarity’s solutions should not expect major changes to the vendors’ development roadmaps until 2007 at the earliest, until after the initial shipments of Vista and Longhorn products.

► Enterprises that have invested in non-Microsoft/non-ProClarity BI solutions (e.g., Business Objects, Cognos, SAS Institute, Hyperion) do not need to rethink their commitments to those vendors. Microsoft/ProClarity provides a substantial BI solution set, but the BI pure-plays may still be regarded as best-of-breed in this niche.

IBM Gives More Power to the User with New Portal Rev.

On April 3rd IBM announced a major upgrade to IBM WebSphere Portal. The new version simplifies working with composite applications, making it faster and easier for businesses to realize the benefits of integrated applications and reusable services.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Competitors in the portal space need to continue to improve user interfaces to allow business users/managers to build and maintain communities with minimal help from IT/development staff.

► Competitors should be prepared for the virtual merger of BPM and portal, led by BEA and to a certain extend IBM. This will move beyond simply allowing a portal interface to a BPM end point, but will include allowing portal developer to build processes from their interfaces.

► Competitors should be prepared for the world of rich interfaces to merge with portal interfaces in some respects. However, instead of adding technology for the sake of it, vendors need to contemplate how this will change the definition of portals and how centralized management and control will be affected.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Current WebSphere Portal users should strongly consider version 6.0 due to a number of user interface, workflow, content management, and development features. These will result in quicker time to deployment and more flexibility when it comes to modifying portal applications or creating new communities.

► Users should look at the new features in WebSphere portals and in other portal products as a means to allow business managers to create new projects and communities around tasks without waiting for IT to build these communities.

► Users should consider composite applications as a way to more quickly automate business processes and business logic and increase productivity without extensive development work. These new applications should be built largely on SOAs and tilted toward automated processes, but could include non process-oriented applications.

Top