The Yankee Group's 2003 Prediction About Web Services Hype Came True in Spectacular Fashion; The Web Services Market Saw a Great Deal of Press Coverage But Little Growth

Business Wire, Oct 12, 2004

BOSTON -- Between 5% and 10% of Fortune 1000 companies use web services, yet 60% of computing infrastructure already supports it, according to the Yankee Group report, Web Services Security Architecture Taxonomy and Market Drivers. XML is widely used to enable system integration, rich content and streamlined B2B communications. Yankee Group survey data shows a 160% growth in the rate of XML use from a relatively small base, with 52% of enterprises using web services development tools to pilot web services implementations. We predict this will rise to 83% by the end of 2004.

More than 80% of organizations that will deploy web services in 2004 rate web application security as their fourth security spending priority. Findings from the Yankee Group 2003 Enterprise Security Spending Survey demonstrated two crucial factors: (1) businesses need to improve B2B and customer communications and (2) web services and security products can meet these needs. The biggest names in the industry are definitely ready: Microsoft, Sun, IBM, SAP and Oracle drive standardization efforts and offer competing solutions.

"The first exploits against web services (XML or SOAP implementations) will be seen in 2004 and will shock enterprises that were not aware of how much XML content and supported technology is on their networks. There will be no revolution in web services: In technology infrastructure, web services already have arrived," says Phebe Waterfield, Yankee Group Security Solutions & Services analyst.

NOTE TO EDITORS

For interviews, contact Phebe Waterfield, pwaterfield@yankeegroup.com

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Kim Vranas, director of marketing, press liaison, 617-880-0214, kvranas@yankeegroup.com

THE YANKEE GROUP (www.yankeegroup.com)

The Yankee Group is the global leader in communications & networking research and consulting. The company helps businesses understand the opportunities, risks and competitive pressures of developing, deploying and consuming products and services that drive communication or information exchange. Now in its fourth decade, the Yankee Group is based in Boston with offices throughout North America and Europe.