IBM Aims To Eclipse BEA, Sun with New WebSphere

With the announcement of its new WebSphere application server at the DeveloperWorks Live conference in San Francisco, IBM (NYSE: IBM) clearly is attempting to gain a bigger share of the US$2.19 billion market for e-business software. In the process, the tech giant also is aiming to break out of a dead heat with rival BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS).

Big Blue said version 5 of its WebSphere application server, which will ship in the third quarter, will support Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Web services standards that will help companies build better software. For customers, the upgrade also will fill in a critical part of the integration puzzle, smoothing the path of e-commerce transactions.

Great Strides

IBM has made great strides in the application server arena, capturing a 34 percent market share in 2001, up from 31 percent in 2000, according to a report released by Giga Information Group.

The company's strongest competitor in the sector, BEA, has seen its market share decrease from 36 percent to 34 percent during the same period, the report said.

"It used to be the case that BEA won any bake-off," Giga research fellow Mike Gilpin told the E-Commerce Times. He noted that although BEA is still the favorite on technical grounds, relative newcomer IBM is giving the leader reason to sweat.

The other two sector heavyweights, Sun and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), currently run a distant third and fourth behind IBM, respectively. The Giga report showed that Sun holds 7 percent of the market while Oracle claims just 6 percent.

Solving Integration Woes

IBM has made tremendous strides with WebSphere, partly because the software purports to solve some of the integration woes companies could face when implementing an e-commerce or CRM strategy.

Gilpin noted that WebSphere has "great breadth. It's not just an application server."

IBM is pursuing a three-pronged strategy with WebSphere. The platform is designed to offer customizable information access to a wide variety of users via multiple devices, including wireless handhelds and standard telephones. WebSphere also provides a way for enterprises to integrate and automate business processes, and it allows businesses to build, link and manage applications.

More Updates Planned

Big Blue also said it plans to update its integration software. As part of this strategy , the company unveiled WebSphere MQ Event Broker, which will allow a company to send information to whatever devices -- ranging from PCs to Palms -- a customer prefers.

The company also has more fully embraced the technology of CrossWorlds Software, which it acquired earlier this year. Gilpin noted that IBM previously had not unlocked the full potential of that relationship. But by including CrossWorlds offerings in its new WebSphere Business Integration Server 4.1, that is beginning to change.

In addition, IBM took the wraps off of a new version of Tivoli software designed to help companies manage security. The company has said it will include Tivoli's security elements in WebSphere Application Server Version 5.

Sharing the Limelight

WebSphere has attracted large customers, such as Home Depot, Staples and Prudential. Stefan Van Overtveldt, program director of WebSphere marketing, attributed the product's success to IBM's willingness to share the limelight with application providers.

"Contrary to some other vendors in the infrastructure space, we don't want to get into the application space," Van Overtveldt said. "And that's a great confidence builder when we go out to build contracts with CRM vendors. They know we don't want to be competitive with them."

Unlike IBM, Oracle has positioned itself as an application provider, Gilpin noted, but he said the positioning is not unreasonable given the company's background and evolution.