Gartner: Slowdown in Application Server Growth
Its hard to beat 92%
After experiencing significant growth in 2000, J2EE application servers grew more modestly in 2001, according to a recent report from market research firm Gartner Dataquest.
The application server market grew 20% in 2001, rapid growth compared to most technology sectors last year, but lackluster in compared to its 92% growth in 2000. Gartner believes new application server license revenue totaled $1.18 billion in 2001.
According to the report, BEA Systems Inc. led the market for application servers with IBM Corp. hot on its heels. BEA claimed a 34% slice of the pie, while IBM’s WebSphere ate a 31% chunk. IBM experience more rapid growth in 2001, however. In 2000, BEA held 33% of the market, while IBM carried only 22% of new license revenue.
Sun Microsystems Inc., which developed the J2EE spec, was a distant third, with 9% of the market.
New license revenue may not be the best metric for understanding application server adoption however. Oracle Corp. gives its application server away, and has claimed the number three spot in other rankings. Moving forward, Sun has said it would integrate the base functionality of its application server into its flagship Solaris 9 operating system.
About the Author
Chris McConnell is Product and Technology Editor for Enterprise Systems.