Bringing the Mountaintop to You

Software Magazine, Dec, 1999

ANALYSTS ARE LIKE GURUS.

You are never quite sure whether they have a pure vision and the right karma, or if their act is all smoke and mirrors.

Analysts purport to know a lot, and they issue a lot of advice, both solicited and unsolicited. They hold sway over many an IT manager, and their services cost significant money to use.

Much of the best industry content today is in the hands of the analyst firms. They are a powerful source of information for IT managers. To get that information, though, companies must trek to the mountaintop (read: become a client and pay to have wisdom bestowed upon you). While hiring a sherpa and heading out for the Himalayas is in vogue today, not everyone can afford the time and expense.

This issue of Software Magazine brings the mountaintop to you. It is experiment for us -- delivering the content of one analyst firm to you, the reader, via a controlled circulation magazine. You don't have to pay for it.

We believe it is content of value. The Standish Group International Inc., based in Dennis, Mass., is a research-based advisory firm focusing on mission-critical software and applications. Founded in 1985, the company differentiates by basing the opinions of its analysts primarily on research findings.

In 1994, The Standish Group made public its first study documenting the billions of dollars wasted on software development for projects that were never completed. That report, The CHAOS Study, is among the most oft-quoted in the industry since then. This issue of Software Magazine contains an update, and the results are very optimistic for the future of software development.

Also in this issue, we have the results of The Standish Group's total cost of ownership (TCO) study, an examination of the cost benefit of application service providers, an overview of the markets for both application inspection tools and application server middleware, an analysis of high-availability applications and databases, and an interview with Jim Johnson, founder and chairman of The Standish Group.

This collaboration between The Standish Group and Software Magazine came about in the spirit of innovation. Please let me know what you think of it.

Regards,

John P. Desmond

EDITOR'S NOTE: All of the feature stories in this issue from The Standish Group analysts derive from published research notes.