Technological Evolution

A defined set of technologies has advanced significantly over the past year. Security software deployments, for example, have become a bigger concern, particularly among midsize solution providers, jumping 11 points from the 2001 to the 2002 SOM surveys. Microsoft's IIS Web server and Commerce Server 2000 platforms can be found at 80 percent and 72 percent, respectively, of the development shops surveyed. And DSL deployments have risen as well, sporting a 9-point climb among solution providers, despite the well-publicized bankruptcies of many DSL providers.

One overall trend can be characterized by a greater integration of previously disparate tools, making the role of systems integrators more important than ever. Web interfaces and Web services are being married to all sorts of technologies, and content-development tools have grown up to handle the new challenges of deploying and running Web sites. Document-imaging products now sport ties to both Web and database servers, making it easier for anyone to query and find a particular document with nothing more than a Web browser.

"The functionality of document-imaging software has improved tremendously," says Milton Konstantinidis, vice president of Galaxie Business Equipment, a document-imaging vendor in Winfield, Kan. "LaserFiche has its Web-link software. As soon as you scan a document into the system, it is available on the Web and downloadable via a PDF. That is extremely powerful, and it all happens with very little custom programming required. Companies can publish on the Web as many of their documents as they want."

Nowhere is this more noticeable than with Macromedia, which purchased Allaire's ColdFusion development line and has begun to merge the products with its own Flash and other site-animation tools. Mindseye's Burke believes the past year has been a good one for Macromedia. "We are finally starting to see the fruition with the next versions of ColdFusion. Macromedia is providing a tool that can build sophisticated applications and take Web authoring to a new level."

Another example is how askSam's database software has grown in the past year. "This is a quantum leap in an already powerful package," says reseller Bruce Ritchie, a partner with Ontario-based Advanced Communications and Business Resources. "It is far more stable, has more capabilities, unlimited templates, a more powerful Report Writer, is faster and can integrate with a programmer's custom front end. It can search across multiple databases and can load and run other software, such as graphics or spreadsheets. The WebPublisher module also makes it easy to provide huge, searchable databases online."

A New Season For IT