I-Planet and IBM top the application server hit list

In an evaluation of eleven application servers from ten different vendors, the Forrester team focussed on the performance and reliability of the offerings.

None of the application servers examined scored top marks in every category, according to the author of the study, Chris Dial. But I-Planet's Application Server 6.0 totally satisfied the analysts under laboratory conditions. Nevertheless, only 14 per cent of the IT managers had opted for the product.

Performance, scalability, reliability and the ease of integration offered by 6.0 won Forrester over to the server. The experts predict a high level of market penetration and a long product life for the product.

The popularity of number two, WebSphere, was based on its user-friendliness, coupled with compatibility and cost issues. An IT departmental manager from an ecommerce company told silicon.com: "We opted for IBM because we are already using a lot of hardware from Big Blue here - it was an easy decision."

The downside of sticking with Big Blue, according to Forrester, is that the platform cannot easily be integrated into other vendors' solutions.

During product development, vendors applied different and in some cases innovative solutions to the same problems, for example in their use of wireless technology.

Whereas the major companies, almost without exception, were offering stable and reliable end-to-end solutions from a single source, a handful of smaller specialists such as Brokat, Inprise and Lutris were forerunners in the use of wireless products operating on the basis of WAP and WML standards.

Silverstream's Application Server 3.7 came off well in all criteria, but shares the same problem as the number four, Windows 2000 Professional Edition, in that integration is difficult.

The analysts complained that the platform doesn't support Java or Corba and users are therefore restricted to Microsoft applications. Application servers from Inprise and Sybase share fifth position, followed by Allaire, ATG, Allaire again, Brokat, Persistence and Lutris.