Application servers offer seamless private and public business process management.  They allow companies to maximize e-business opportunities by leveraging existing resources to improve speed-to-market and anticipate IT changes as their business changes.  Application servers enable businesses to build and deploy reliable, scalable e-business applications.

Enterprises gain competitive advantage by quickly developing and deploying applications that provide business services.  Internal applications are positioned to improve employee productivity.  Internet applications are for specialized customer or vendor services.  Quick deployment is key to success.

Portability and scalability are significant for long-term system use.  Test cases are used to complete 24 x 7, enterprise-wide services, accessible by tens, hundreds, or even thousands of clients simultaneously.  J2EE breaks the barriers inherent between current enterprise systems.  The unified J2EE standard wraps and embraces existing resources required by multi-tier applications with a unified, component-based application model.  This enables the next generation of components, tools, systems, and applications to solving the strategic requirements of the enterprise.

Application servers manage distributed transaction situations.  Application servers provide mission critical management in local venues.  The money needs to be managed.  Application servers support services systems development.  This is a core IT function being extended to the business managers and business analysts.  The ability to implement rules and analysis at the server level is an essential aspect of doing business in a distributed computing environment.

Application server markets at $1.7 billion in 2002 are expected to reach $5.1 billion by 2008.  Market growth will parallel increased use of the Internet to achieve operating efficiency.  Industry consolidation also drives market growth as systems are used to link applications from various divisions.

The market and services, for application server software components, are highly competitive.  IBM leads the application server market with 26.3% market share.  The application server license revenue was for the J2EE capability.  This revenue for application servers does not count CICS, which is more than a $1 billion product for IBM.  IBM has secured a strong market position with s strong infrastructure system.

This is the one-hundred sixty ninth report in a series of market research reports that provide forecasts in communications, telecommunications, the internet, computer, software, and telephone equipment.The project leaders take direct responsibility for writing and preparing each report.They have significant experience preparing industry studies.Forecasts are based on primary research and proprietary data bases.Forecasts reflect analysis of the market trends in the segment and related segments.Unit and dollar shipments are analyzed through consideration of dollar volume of each market participation in the segment.market share analysis includes conversations with key customers of products, industry segment leaders, marketing directors, distributors, leading market participants, and companies seeking to develop measurable market share.Over 200 in depth interviews are conducted for each report with a broad range of key participants and opinion leaders in the market segment.