ZapThink Endorses Nexaweb’s Enterprise Web 2.0 Approach to Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Nexaweb® Technologies, Inc., provider of the leading standards-based platform for building and deploying Enterprise Web 2.0 (EW2.0) applications, today announced that a new, independent research report by ZapThink discusses Nexaweb’s Enterprise Web 2.0 Platform and its ability to enable users to seamlessly experience integrated functionality from distributed applications in an SOA framework no matter where they are located on the network.

The report titled, “Nexaweb: Exploring the Universal Consumer for Services and Platform for Rich Enterprise Applications” (http://forum.nexaweb.com/forms/template_corp.php?project=500&content=141) (ZapThink – January 2007), identifies the following primary business drivers for SOA development: greater business agility, increased asset reuse, and the reduction of complexity through the integration of disparate applications. The report examines the Nexaweb EW2.0 Platform and its ability to achieve these business goals by providing EW2.0 applications with the look-and-feel of desktop applications and the capabilities of distributed Internet applications. This approach enables enterprises to develop and deploy mission-critical SOA applications over the Internet with live access to data and real-time alerts, guaranteed message delivery, and off-line computing support.

“Most organizations have already reached a ‘tipping point’ with regards to service-oriented applications, so the emphasis has shifted from the creation of new services to the composition and consumption of those services,” wrote Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst for ZapThink and the author of the report. “The consumption piece is what’s posing the biggest hurdles for developers and that’s where Nexaweb’s flexible, standards-based approach comes into play.”

“Nexaweb has been on the cutting-edge of Rich Internet Application technologies such as Ajax and Java for more than six years,” said Chris Heidelberger, CEO at Nexaweb. “ZapThink’s report proves that our approach accurately meets the needs of Global 2000 companies and confirms that EW2.0 solutions are now the platform of choice for delivering the ‘Last Mile’ of SOA.”

The report illustrates how Nexaweb’s Internet Messaging Bus(TM) (IMB) intelligently manages communication between Web servers and clients, providing consistent application performance over any bandwidth and any kind of network.

“Nexaweb’s IMB and Event Notification Services provide reliable, asynchronous and sometimes-connected modes of interaction,” explained Schmelzer.
“Nexaweb-powered solutions provide enterprises in the financial services, manufacturing and healthcare markets with the architecture needed to support a high-volume of mission-critical transactions.”

Read more at: SOAWorld

Nexaweb: Exploring the Universal Consumer for Services and Platform for Rich Enterprise Applications

In place of stateless Web interactions that offer only a cheap imitation of the interactivity we’ve come to expect from our desktop operating systems, a new class of distributed applications is emerging — the Rich Internet Application (RIA). Combining real-time user interaction with rich user interface capabilities, Rich Internet Applications leverage increasingly sophisticated client-side technology to enable users to interact with and compose functionality from distributed applications no matter where they are located on the network.

Nexaweb evolves the RIA with significant enhacements to their product line. Nexaweb Platform 4.5 adds the Universal Client Framework — a way of rendering client-side capabilities in Ajax, Java, and even .NET on an as-needed basis, combined with reliable, asynchronous, and sometimes-connected modes of interaction provided by their Internet Messaging Bus (IMB) and Event Notification Services (ENS).

Ajax emerging as RIA alternative of choice, says Burton

However, Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst with ZapThink LLC., remains skeptical of the JSF tools.

“We’ve seen one other vendors tout the benefits of JavaServer Faces — ICEsoft out of Calgary,” Bloomberg says. “They also offer a JSF approach for creating Ajax apps without the need for scripting in JavaScript. An additional benefit is that it deals with cross-browser issues, but the downside is that it’s a Java tool only for Java developers. In my opinion, these JSF-based approaches will remain niche players, while the language-neutral guys like Nexaweb and JackBe, as well as incumbents like Adobe and Microsoft, will become established as the leading players.”

Read more at: SearchWebServices

Nexaweb upgrades Web 2.0 platform

Nexaweb offers a rich Internet application platform that tries to push business logic itself onto the client, said Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink. “It’s the whole idea of making the client platform a lot more intelligent,” Schmelzer said.

The platform is client-agnostic in that application logic can be rendered onto AJAX, Java, and .Net clients, Schmelzer said. But it is similar to Flash and Java in that server-side logic is Nexaweb-specific and applications would need to be redone to move the server code, he said.

Read more at: ComputerWorld

Nexaweb Platform 4.5 Expands Enterprise Web 2.0 Application Development With Enhanced Data Services and Integration, Universal Client Framework, and Government Mandate Compliance

“The key to staying ahead of the curve in the rapidly growing enterprise Web 2.0 market is to accurately anticipate the needs of businesses, developers and end-users,” said Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink. “To this end, Nexaweb has successfully identified SOA, Web services, database integration, and rich Internet application capabilities provided by Ajax, Java, and .NET as key focus areas for its new Platform 4.5 release. In addition, the new Section 508 Accessibility is not only a competitive differentiator in the financial services and public sector markets, but it also demonstrates Nexaweb’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of end users and regulatory bodies.”

Read more at: Nexaweb Press Release

Nexaweb upgrades Web 2.0 platform

Nexaweb offers a rich Internet application platform that tries to push business logic itself onto the client, said Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink. “It’s the whole idea of making the client platform a lot more intelligent,” Schmelzer said.

The platform is client-agnostic in that application logic can be rendered onto AJAX, Java, and .Net clients, Schmelzer said. But it is similar to Flash and Java in that server-side logic is Nexaweb-specific and applications would need to be redone to move the server code, he said.

Read more at: InfoWorld

ZapForum Podcast: The Value of Web 2.0 to the Enterprise

ZapForum Podcast for November 17, 2006 features

Guest Expert David McFarlane, Chief Operating Officer, Nexaweb.

Listen to this Podcast and you will:

• Gain clear definitions of Web 2.0, Enterprise Web 2.0, as well as Mashups and Enterprise Mashups
• Understand the business value of Rich Internet Applications
• Learn how Ajax and other technologies enable organizations to use the Web as a platform for application creation

CEO Technology Guide: Mashups

Enterprise Mashups Podcast
Jason Bloomberg, a senior analyst and principal at consulting firm ZapThink, talks about how companies can take advantage of Web applications that combine content from two or more online sources

Read more at: BusinessWeek

Big Companies Embracing Software Mashups

Experts say that although enterprise mashups promise to help make software development easier, they also present a new set of challenges. One of the key characteristics of enterprise mashups is that they put more power in the hands of end users. “The average I.T. establishment is reluctant to give users more power,” says Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst at consulting firm ZapThink. The answer, he says, is for the I.T. department to provide oversight, defining what kinds of mashups are allowed, and then to govern that process. Software and service vendors can help companies implement management tools.

Read more at: CIO Today

Nexaweb and JackBe Take Web 2 to the Enterprise

”What you have to remember about a show like AjaxWorld is that Ajax is a technology, not a market, not a business,” says Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst at ZapThink. ”So a lot of the vendors are really just hobbyists. They don’t have a business model. They’re just doing cool things.”

But for my money–and Bloomberg’s–the coolest things at this event were all about the concept of ”enterprise Web 2.0,” as exemplified by Nexaweb Technologies and JackBe.

”Nexaweb has been focusing on enterprise applications, which really distinguishes them in the Web 2.0 crowd,” Bloomberg says. ”This is a company that is solving real business problems, and they started off with that focus.”

That governance piece is the key to the enterprise for this generation of Web-based apps, says Bloomberg. ZapThink views the emergence of Web 2.0 as a natural evolution of the SOA, in which loosely coupled software services provide the business processes. The SOA infrastructure is necessary to guarantee the loose coupling, without which, Bloomberg says, ”things like mashups are little more than toys from an enterprise perspective.”

The ASB is an interesting variation on the ESB. ”The idea there is to support the rich Internet interface (client piece), the composite applications (server piece), and then they the connection,” explains Bloomberg. ”So you can build mashups without worrying about http problems. The ASB eases the perspective of the developer, as well as the business user, who is now able to leverage this enterprise Web capability without having to worry about a lot of that nuts and bolts technical stuff.”

Read more at: Application Development Trends