Safety in .Net

The complexity of implementing Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) could lead businesses to adopt Microsoft’s .Net, according to recent research by Meta Group. The analyst firm advised organisations that decided to go with Java to choose a vendor with market presence over their technical know how.

The results, taken from Meta Group’s new METAspectrum market analysis service, showed that when a company was choosing a vendor to initiate a Java project, it should select a vendor that had a reputation for performance.

”Companies selecting platforms should weigh market presence and vendor viability more heavily than technical capability - to reflect the relative importance enterprise customers place on presence when selecting a strategic supplier,” the report stated.”As vendors continue to leapfrog one another in technological prowess, users are more concerned with providers’ long-term commitment to the market and their ability to adequately service and support products on a global scale.”

The report also found that those departments and businesses that have adopted Java have found it to be complicated, meaning that .Net would be a stiff rival to Java over the coming 18 months.

”We expect IBM and BEA to remain the dominant players in the J2EE application server arena during the next 18-24 months, but the market will continue to consolidate rapidly as the number of viable vendors shrinks,” said Michael Barnes, senior program director with Meta Group’s application delivery strategies service.