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Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware

by Rosemary Rock-Evans, editor Gary Barnet

Available November 1999

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Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware will help you to answer the following questions:

• How do I choose the product that best suits my needs?
• How do I justify expenditure on middleware in terms of business benefits?
• With all the changes in the market, does my vendor have a credible strategy?
• If I’m using the Internet why do I need middleware?

Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware is the only report available to provide you with independent, business-focused evaluations of today’s market-leading middleware products. Use this report to define your organisation’s middleware requirements and select the right software for your project.

Choose the right middleware for your organisation

Middleware enables you to connect your diverse computer systems together reliably and securely. But because middleware is supposed to be invisible, evaluating exactly how each product can help you meet your business objectives is extremely difficult. With considerable variation in the capabilities – and cost – of different packages, finding the right one for your organisation can be extremely time-consuming. Now, Ovum’s new report can help you to make this critical decision with confidence.

Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware assesses some of the key products from the latest generation of middleware releases and reviews the level of support and services provided by their vendors. Our independent product evaluations are unique, both in their level of detail and their constant focus on how each product can support your business. Written by a team of middleware experts, led by Rosemary Rock-Evans, this report gives you an in-depth understanding of the current range of middleware products, and will help you to choose the right middleware for your organisation.

Ovum, has been assessing the business benefits of middleware for over four years, visiting the vendors and evaluating middleware in ‘real-life’ situations. The sole purpose of Ovum’s research is to help you understand the products and make informed decisions about middleware. Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware allows you to benefit from our unparalleled experience.

Whatever your particular middleware requirements, Ovum’s tried and tested reference model allows you to compare the functionality of different products quickly and easily. The model is invaluable in helping you to understand how the products work and to determine when – and when not – to use them. And because our published model shows you how we reached our conclusions, you can use it to understand how our verdicts should guide your organisation’s product choice.

The world’s leading middleware evaluation programme – designed to help you make the right decisions

As middleware products become more multi-functional, the old distinction between different categories of middleware (DTPMs, MOM, RPCs etc.) is increasingly redundant. What matters is what the products can – and cannot – do for your computing environment. And product functionality and price varies considerably. Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware will help you to make this critical investment decision with confidence.

Ovum’s evaluation model gives you an accurate picture of product capability, measured against the ten dimensions listed below. These are the most comprehensive evaluations available, and they ensure that you know exactly what each product can do. You will be able to quickly draw up a shortlist of the products that meet your business needs, and you will be in an extremely strong position when negotiating with the shortlisted vendors. Each evaluation also includes a summary page for quick comparison:

1 Availability
Will the application help you keep your guarantees to the business? Is the distributed application robust to failure, even if lines, machines or programs fail?

2 Reliability
How reliable is the application in ensuring that messages and data are not lost, duplicated, or corrupted?

3 High Performance
Will the middleware be able to deliver transactions in a time that is acceptable to your business? For example with concurrent communication, automatic multi-threading or multi-tasking?

4 Security
Does the middleware provide end to end security, for all applications, whatever the platform to ensure information is not corrupted or altered?

5 Scalability
Can the system cope with an unexpected growth in demand in the business such an increase in transactions or an expansion of the database? Can other applications be added without impacting on any existing ones?

6 Optimal resource usage
Does the middleware make optimal use of both network and machine resources? Or will it clog up your networks?

7 Productivity of developer
How much development coding is automated? Will your programmers be able to cope with any application development needs?

8 Productivity of administrator
How well does the middleware support the administrator, for example with remote configuration, installation or fault monitoring?

9 Applicability
Does the middleware provide wide applicability; for example does it support lots of platforms and understand all types of programming language?

10 Flexibility
How will the middleware integrate with other software or hardware?

Understand the strategy of your current middleware vendor

Acquisitions and product development have both led to a rationalisation of the middleware market over the last two years. But this has left many middleware users unsure of the medium-term objectives of their vendors. Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware analyses the prospects for both vendors and products and clarifies the strategy of the players. Vendors are assessed by the following criteria:

• History
• Financial stability
• Company strategy
• Product strategy
• Product capabilities.

This information will help you to choose a supplier that you can work with, and also means that you don’t invest in a product that will be obsolete and unsupported in several years’ time.

The report addresses many of the current uncertainties in the market, including those surrounding:

BEA
How will BEA’s acquisition affect TOP END and Tuxedo functionality? What assurances should I be seeking from BEA?

IONA
This young company is a key force in object technology. But how will it drive its Orbix range into the enterprise?

IBM
Does IBM’s middleware strategy finally make sense? Yes, but what exactly is happening with Component Broker? And the TX Series? And where does the MQ Series fit in?

Microsoft
Is DCOM just for Windows, or can it work in the heterogeneous enterprise? Will COM+ make DCOM easier to use? How will Windows 2000 (NT 5) and Active Directory affect DCOM?

The Object Transaction Monitor Battle
Are BEA with Tuxedo and M3, Iona with Orbix and OTM, Microsoft with MTS and DCOM, or IBM with WebSphere credible solutions for the enterprise?

Who should use the report?

Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand and assess middleware products, including:

Users

Vendors

Contents (provisional)

A Introduction

Typical business problems that are faced. How to justify a need for expenditure on middleware to your business.

B What is middleware?

What does middleware do? Types of middleware. The changing face of middleware. The objectives of middleware. The services of middleware.

C The technology

What are the different types of technologies that make these applications work? Key technical issues you will need to be aware of before making a purchasing decision.

D Guide to scoring

Availability
Reliability
High performance
Security
Scalability
Optimal resource usage
Productivity of developer
Productivity of administrator
Portability and flexibility
Flexibility
Wide applicability

E Format of the Evaluations

F Vendor Profiles

IONA
BEA
Microsoft
IBM
TIBCO

G Product Evaluations

Orbix
Tuxedo, M3 and AMM
DCOM /COM+
TIBCO
MQ Series, TX Series

About the author

Rosemary Rock-Evans is an Ovum Associate with over 20 years experience in the IT industry, building systems, working as a consultant and researching and writing about systems development. She has provided numerous IT users with practical advice on the introduction of methods, tools and metrics, and is author of Ovum reports on middleware, CASE, GUI builders, repositories and frameworks and software methods. Her previous reports for Ovum include Middleware and the Internet and Middleware: the Key to Distributed Computing.

About the Editor

Gary Barnett is a Senior Consultant at Ovum. Gary is author of Application Servers: Web-enabled Enterprise and edits Ovum Evaluates : Client-Server Development tools, a continuous information service which provides detailed, independent, analysis of current application development tools available to developers.

His industry experience spans the full software development lifecycle, and encompasses the integration of mainframe and client-server technologies. Gary has direct experience in the specification of enterprise client-server systems, software training and I.S. management.

Two purchasing options to suit your needs

For a quick decision...

To make your selection now, you need the Decision Maker package:

Is your organisation embarking on the selection process for middleware? Are you involved in making the decision? If you need to:

• Understand the technology and its benefits for your organisation;
• Draw up a shortlist without wasting months on "beauty contests";
• Make and justify the right product/supplier choice within strict deadlines;

then Ovum’s Decision Maker package is for you. You’ll receive:

All current product evaluations – we are continuously updating our evaluations of the leading products in the market. When you buy, you’ll receive a complete set of up-to-date evaluations, helping you to make a decision that is right for your current and future needs.

Guide to the evaluations – to help you get the most from our evaluations, we provide a detailed description of our methodology and what to look for in the products.

Everything you need to back up your decision – an overview of middleware: what it is, how it works and why is it critically important to your organisation’s future health?

To be always up-to-date on the latest middleware developments...

For on-going, up-to-the minute information from the heart of the middleware market, you need Decision Maker PLUS+

If you need regularly updated product information and market news in order to:

• Understand which supplier/product best matches your requirements on a continuous basis;
• Assess how your company will benefit from middleware now and in the future;
• Assess the market opportunities in middleware;

then a subscription to Decision Maker PLUS+ is for you. In addition to all the elements of the Decision Maker service, you’ll receive:

Product evaluations – continuously updated for a whole year. As new releases become available, we’ll update our product evaluations to keep them current. We will also evaluate significant new products as they are launched. Subscribers to Decision Maker PLUS+ will receive additional evaluations as soon as they become available.

Annual market forecast – Ovum’s expert analysts forecast market development, predicting how sections of the market will grow or decline, and identifying the key factors behind this movement. Ovum’s Annual Forecast provides you with the insight you need to plan your business strategy.

Regular updates – Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware will bring you regular updates on products and market developments to ensure that you stay informed about this fast-moving technology area.

Telephone enquiry service – speak directly to the Ovum Evaluates: Enterprise Middleware experts for additional information and advice when you need it.