IBM's WebSphere Integration Offer Signals Long-Term Plan

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1 Products, M. Pezzini, J. Thompson Research Note 8 April 2003 IBM's WebSphere Integration Offer Signals Long-Term Plan Version 4.2 of WebSphere Business Integration bundles more products into one package. It is IBM's first step in rationalizing its application integration tools, an aim that may prove too ambitious. Core Topic Application Integration and Middleware: Application Integration Key Issue Which vendors will thrive, and which will not survive, in the ongoing market shakeout in application integration and Web services middleware? Strategic Planning Assumptions Through 2006, IBM will remain a leader in integration broker suites, but will not have more than 20 percent market share (0.7 probability). IBM's new Eclipse-enabled, J2EE-based integration platform will not reach production readiness and mainstream adoption until 2005, thus forcing IBM to continue to actively promote the WebSphere Business Integration 4.x component set in parallel with the new offering (0.7 probability). IBM Headquarters: Armonk, New York Web Location: Founded: 1911 Ownership: Public Employees: Approximately 316,000 (at year-end 2002) IBM established its leadership of the fast-moving integration broker suite market by diligent execution, exploitation of its huge customer base and continuous refinement of its vision. In February 2002, IBM improved its strategic position decisively by acquiring CrossWorlds, revealing a renewed approach to the market (see "IBM to Acquire CrossWorlds: Now What?" DF ). In May 2002, the company released the first stage in an ambitious new application integration strategy: WebSphere Business Integration v.4.1. The product costs about the same as the original CrossWorlds InterChange Server and bundles together several important but loosely integrated, overlapping technologies. WebSphere Business Integration Server v.4.2, announced in early March 2003, provides an extended and more-integrated product set, including: WebSphere InterChange Server v.4.2, a DB2- and AIXenabled version of the original CrossWorlds integration broker, designed to make developing interfaces quicker by using packaged integration processes and adapters (IBM CrossWorlds Collaborations). The new version supports XML Metadata Interchange and Business Process Execution Language for Web Services. WebSphere MQ Integrator Broker v.2.1, a stripped-down version of WebSphere MQ Integrator (WMQI formerly MQSeries Integrator) to complement WebSphere InterChange Server when a high-performance, plain transformation and routing broker is needed. WebSphere MQ Workflow v.3.4, the latest version of IBM's tool for long-running business processes requiring human decision making. Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 WebSphere Business Integration Toolset v.4.2, including Eclipse-based development tools and testing and system monitoring capabilities. Other elements of the WebSphere Business Integration offering include: Initial integration of WebSphere Business Integration Server with WebSphere Business Integration Modeler v and WebSphere Business Integration Monitor v (acquired when IBM bought Holosofx in 2002). WebSphere Business Integration for Industries, targeting industry sectors such as automotive, electronics, financial services, insurance, retail and telecommunications. These products include Collaborations sets of pre-configured process templates, adapters, message/data transformation and filtering rules, derived from CrossWorlds technology. During 2002, IBM also announced new releases of WebSphere MQ (formerly MQSeries), WebSphere MQ Everyplace, WebSphere Data Interchange (an electronic data interchange gateway), WebSphere MQ Event Broker, a new publish-andsubscribe-based event manager and WebSphere Business Integration Connection, for business-to-business (B2B) integration. These announcements indicated IBM's renewed focus on the application integration market and the overhaul of its integration offering. At this stage, WebSphere Business Integration appears to be just a commercial bundle of loosely integrated products, but it is also a starting point in the process of rationalizing IBM's application integration portfolio into a set of technology components, intended to eliminate overlaps while extending overall functionality. Renewed Focus on Application Integration In an extremely fragmented market, crowded with relatively small companies, IBM is the strongest and most viable player, because of its powerful sales, marketing, professional services and support capabilities. The impressive WebSphere MQ customer base (more than 10,000 customers, according to IBM) is a strong competitive advantage that IBM has exploited to expand its integration broker market share from 13 percent in Although WMQI is not as feature-rich as some competing products (from vendors such as SeeBeyond Technology, Tibco Software, webmethods and Vitria Technology), it supports a variety of integration scenarios, especially in IBM-dominated environments. The acquisition of CrossWorlds further improved IBM's ability to execute, giving it: 8 April

3 An additional 2 percent market share. New customers only 120 of them, but well-placed, especially in the manufacturing industry. Leading packaged integrating processes technology, and a documented methodology for designing and implementing it. New "project oriented" application integration opportunities, supporting well-defined, industry-specific business requirements (such as order-to-cash in manufacturing or straight-through provisioning in telecommunications) not addressed via WMQI. IBM is supporting WebSphere Business Integration with a vigorous, vertically focused marketing strategy to take advantage of CrossWorlds' strengths and target a business-oriented audience. As a result, IBM's application integration business grew in 2002, while revenue declined at most of its integrationfocused competitors. A New Vision for Application Integration IBM's goal with WebSphere Business Integration is to exert architectural control and lock in customers by strengthening its position as a strategic, enterprisewide integration infrastructure vendor. CrossWorlds pioneered packaged integration processes, its Collaborations technology. Initially, the idea proved to be naïve and overoptimistic, but has gained in popularity and now several vendors (including Vitria, SAP, SeeBeyond, webmethods and Microsoft) are providing similar functionality. In the long term, IBM will use CrossWorlds' Collaborations technology with an "autonomic," (that is, self-installing, selfhealing and self-securing) unified infrastructure. This infrastructure is being developed and will include: A messaging platform (a combination of message queuing, publish-and-subscribe, support for pervasive devices messaging, Java Messaging Service and Web services protocols plus fast message routing, filtering and transformation). A Java-based state management engine. An integrated set of development aids (including business process modeling, design and monitoring tools) that employ the WebSphere Studio (Eclipse) framework. WebSphere Application Server to provide proper Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)-based runtime services (load- 8 April

4 balancing, automatic fail-over, transaction control and security). WebSphere Portal Server for access to business processes and workflows. CrossWorlds-derived adapter technology to support both synchronous and asynchronous connectivity into packaged applications and technology environments. A Step-by-Step Approach WebSphere Business Integration, a crucial element of IBM's business-on-demand strategy, will evolve in steps. IBM has enhanced CrossWorlds' adapters (now known as WebSphere Business Integration Adapters) to support WMQI. By 2Q03, they will support WebSphere Application Server as well. The first version of the state management engine is part of WebSphere Application Server Enterprise v.5. The complete suite of J2EE and Eclipse-enabled integration features is expected to enter beta testing by YE03 and will probably not be generally available until well into Daunting Challenges: Technology, Partnership and Transition IBM is trying to reconcile products and technologies from its own labs and the diverse companies it has acquired. Integrating these into a cohesive architecture is a daunting technical task and will probably take longer than anticipated. It may prove to be too difficult, even for IBM's deep pockets and engineering talents. Although IBM has a strong professional services organization, IBM Global Services' (IGS) strategy is not always aligned with IBM Software's. IGS has established relationships with multiple integration broker vendors. PricewaterhouseCoopers, acquired by IGS in 2002, had a similar strategy. IBM Software's new technologies must gain support and commitment from IGS, other system integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs). But ISVs and global system integrators such as Accenture, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, EDS and IGS itself might prove reluctant to endorse an unproven integration platform when they can use more stable and less technically risky products from IBM's competitors. WMQI and CrossWorlds have more than 1,000 customers. Several WMQI customers still use the Sybase/New Era of Networks' transformer and rules engine that were originally packaged with MQSeries Integrator and are provided as an option for WMQI. Giving customers compatible products and a migration path will be another formidable challenge for IBM. 8 April

5 Existing products will continue to be strategically important to IBM for at least two or three years after the release of the "new WebSphere Business Integration" because stabilizing the new, unified product set will take time. Customers with older products will still need to be supported and more conservative users will want proven products. IBM's new Eclipse-enabled, J2EE-based integration platform will not be ready for production and mainstream adoption until 2005, thus forcing IBM to continue to promote the WebSphere Business Integration 4.x component set in parallel with the new offering (0.7 probability). Industry Impact IBM's competitive position in the application integration market is strong and supported by a clear strategy. However, its strategy will take time to deploy fully and major change in the product architecture risks weakening IBM's position in the market. Established players (for example, Tibco, SeeBeyond and webmethods) and "newcomers" (for example, BEA Systems, Microsoft and SAP) will try to take advantage of the inevitable turmoil to challenge IBM s leadership by claiming superior product maturity and greater compatibility. Through 2006, IBM will remain a leader in integration broker suites, but will not have more than 20 percent market-share (0.7 probability). Product Strategy: Dominate and control users' architecture by establishing its technology as the strategic infrastructure for application and Web services integration. Maintain and improve leadership in the integration broker suite market through bundling and a vigorous marketing campaign focused on selected vertical markets. Merge IBM's disparate integration products (WMQI, WebSphere MQ Workflow, CrossWorlds Interchange Server and Holosofx) into a unified, cohesive product architecture, centered on Eclipse, WebSphere MQ and WebSphere Application Server technology and capable of addressing a broad set of integration scenarios application-toapplication (A2A), B2B, Web services and composite applications. Strengths: Established leadership in the integration broker suite market. 8 April

6 Massive WebSphere MQ installed base and popularity. Rich set of adapters and packaged integration processes technology originally developed by CrossWorlds. Rich business processing modeling and design tools developed by Holosofx. Challenges: Integrating products from multiple sources into a coherent architecture. Marketing itself as "solution oriented," rather than "infrastructure oriented." Providing continuity to WMQI and CrossWorlds customers. Gaining endorsement from ISVs and system integrators, including IGS. Consider This Product When: Looking for a high-end, comprehensive integration suite that supports a variety of A2A and B2B scenarios. Committed to IBM's hardware (for example, zseries) and software platforms (for example, WebSphere Application Server). Consider Alternatives When: Seeking a low-cost, easy-to-use integration platform. Unwilling to risk a major product migration by 2005 or Acronym Key A2A Application-to-application B2B Business-to-business ISV Independent software vendors J2EE Java 2 Enterprise Edition WMQI WebSphere MQ Integrator Bottom Line: Users that have bought WebSphere MQ, WebSphere MQ Integration Broker, WebSphere MQ Workflow and CrossWorlds users will continue to be supported through Nevertheless, they should consider a major migration to the new IBM offering, possibly in 2005 or Enterprises looking for a sophisticated, adapter-rich, mature integration technology to address specific business problems should consider the current WebSphere Business Integration offering. However, given the anticipated architectural discontinuity when the new Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Eclipse-based version becomes available, do not commit strategically and re-evaluate the position once IBM clarifies the transition path. 8 April