"Platform neutrality is an important factor here, because companies are finding that when they take the platform/ESB approach to SOA infrastructure, they still need a way to handle mediation among various platforms and integration technologies -- middleware for their middleware," Bloomberg says. With the Blue Titan purchase, SOA Software's platform can be tied to whatever ESB or other integration infrastructure is already in place at an enterprise, he says.

Read more at: NetworkWorld]]> SOA Software is on track to become the first $100 million vendor with an SOA-specific offering, says Jason Bloomberg, a senior analyst at research firm ZapThink. “SOA Software was already strong in the areas of security, management and runtime governance, while Blue Titan brings enterprise-class mediation to the fold,” he says.

Combined, the two vendors aim to provide offer a platform-neutral SOA infrastructure that can work with enterprise service bus (ESB) products from vendors such as BEA Systems, IBM, Tibco and webMethods.

“Platform neutrality is an important factor here, because companies are finding that when they take the platform/ESB approach to SOA infrastructure, they still need a way to handle mediation among various platforms and integration technologies — middleware for their middleware,” Bloomberg says. With the Blue Titan purchase, SOA Software’s platform can be tied to whatever ESB or other integration infrastructure is already in place at an enterprise, he says.

Read more at: NetworkWorld

"The only way out of this catch-22 is to implement a scalable, enterprise class mediation/management/security solution along with whatever ESBs or other integration infrastructure is already in place. That's just what SOA Software has put together."

Read more at: InternetNews]]> ZapThink analyst Jason Bloomberg said the deal will help SOA Software offer software that does not discriminate against platforms from disparate vendors.

“The platform neutrality is an important factor here, because companies are finding that when they take the platform/ESB approach to SOA infrastructure, they still need a way to handle mediation among various platforms and integration technologies — middleware for their middleware, if you will,” Bloomberg said.

“The only way out of this catch-22 is to implement a scalable, enterprise class mediation/management/security solution along with whatever ESBs or other integration infrastructure is already in place. That’s just what SOA Software has put together.”

Read more at: InternetNews

Read more at: Application Development Trends]]> In the meantime, vendors in the Web services management arena have been playing a near-constant game of musical chairs. “There are a lot of vendors, and they’re all trying to figure out their niche,” explained Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst at consultancy ZapThink LLC in Waltham, Mass. “They’re all changing their story and moving around,” trying to figure out the most appropriate mix of features to meet customers’ needs.

Another big difference from even a year ago, noted ZapThink’s Bloomberg, is that “last year we saw soup-to-nuts functionality,” where every vendor implemented virtually every feature one could ever want in a management package. Now, however, some suppliers are starting to specialize in certain niches — managing or creating service-level agreements, for instance, or audit and version control. Some are targeting security as a core feature, while others are working to ensure that their management suites work with existing Web security leaders like VeriSign and Netegrity.

Read more at: Application Development Trends

Bloomberg said SOAs have been on HP's roadmap for OpenView for well over a year, as evidenced by the Talking Blocks acquisition.

"Now the time is right for HP, as well as CA, to move into leadership positions in the Web Services Management space -- with IBM Tivoli not far behind," he continued. "As for the small players -- Actional, AmberPoint, Blue Titan, Digital Evolution, Flamenco Networks, Infravio, NetIQ, and Westbridge Technology -- the clock is ticking."

Read more at: InternetNews.com]]> Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst for SOA and Web services research firm ZapThink, said HP is making its play at the right time.

“It’s definitely not too late for HP to move into the SOA space in a big way,” Bloomberg told internetnews.com. “In fact, their timing is probably quite good, considering that the number of enterprises who are now considering SOAs has spiked over the last few months. It didn’t make sense for the likes of HP to offer a strong SOA story through last year, because they weren’t yet getting strong demand for such products from their customers.”

Bloomberg said SOAs have been on HP’s roadmap for OpenView for well over a year, as evidenced by the Talking Blocks acquisition.

“Now the time is right for HP, as well as CA, to move into leadership positions in the Web Services Management space — with IBM Tivoli not far behind,” he continued. “As for the small players — Actional, AmberPoint, Blue Titan, Digital Evolution, Flamenco Networks, Infravio, NetIQ, and Westbridge Technology — the clock is ticking.”

Read more at: InternetNews.com

"It showed in our report that a lot of these vendors are looking for niches where they can offer value to their customers, so they tend to offer a bunch of different things," Bloomberg said.

Read more at: TechTarget]]> A research report from ZapThink LLC of Waltham, Mass., released this week said that even if startups are successful in the growing market, they’re likely to become targets of opportunity for big players like Computer Associates International Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company and IBM.

ZapThink senior analyst Jason Bloomberg offered in the report strategies for startups like Flamenco Networks, Infravio, Blue Titan Software and Westbridge Technology Inc. He also predicts the market will consolidate by next year when the incumbent “big players” fuse the market into three or four major companies.

“It showed in our report that a lot of these vendors are looking for niches where they can offer value to their customers, so they tend to offer a bunch of different things,” Bloomberg said.

Read more at: TechTarget