Web Services Showdown
By most accounts, Web services will gain momentum in the next 12 months. The only real questions are, who's going to lead the market and what technology will emerge as the customers' choice? Two sides have emerged: Microsoft's .NET platform and Sun Microsystems' Java technology. Both vendors are trying to woo software developers and ISV partners to build Web services applications, which will eventually lead to services opportunities for solution providers.
Microsoft gave its Web services strategy a major boost last month with the launch of Visual Studio .NET, the application development tool for Microsoft Web services, and the .NET Framework, the platform for Web services applications. The .NET strategy, which was announced nearly four years ago, was designed to bring Microsoft software to the Internet through XML Web services designed to enable businesses to communicate and interoperate across disparate systems. Microsoft says .NET supports for more than 20 programming languages and is integrated with Microsoft products, such as BizTalk Server 2002 and SQL Server 2000. In addition, IBM, Computer Associates and Macromedia will offer integrated development tools for .NET.
"This is a classic example of Microsoft being as un-proprietary as possible," says Eric Swift, lead product manager for BizTalk Server.
Rivals say Java offers the best cross-platform support for Web services. ".NET would work OK for customers landlocked in Wintel, but about 90 percent of enterprise customers use more than one server architecture, and J2EE is the only true cross-platform solution," says Al Zollar, general manager of Lotus Software, which recently chose Java 2 Enterprise Edition for its preferred Web services platform.
To strengthen momentum on the Java Web services front, Sun launched its Java XML Pack, which offers the latest XML and Java standards for Java developers building Web services. Sun also recently teamed with Bowstreet to port Bowstreet's Web services platform, Business Web Factory, to the Sun ONE architecture as well as the iPlanet Application Server and Portal Server Platform.
Dwight Davis, vice president of analyst firm Summit Strategies, says Microsoft has taken the lead in Web services by proving much-needed development tools but that Microsoft faces heavy competition from the Java community and rivals such as Sun Microsystems, which are rushing to market with tools and platforms for Java-based Web services.
Giga Information Group recently reported that Web services would become mainstream by 2003 and that according to its research, Java 2 Enterprise Edition solutions are viewed as the most important Web services platforms. However, Giga also says that .NET gives developers a greater certainty because it's controlled by a single company rather than a community of Java developers and consensus opinion.
Whichever technology emerges as the leading standard, the shift of software as a service is on. Solution providers looking to take advantage of the growing Web services trend should begin to examine the development tools and vendor partners and choose the right platform for their business.