SYS-CON Media Invites BEA, Borland, IBM, JBoss, JOnAS, Macromedia, Microsoft, Oracle, Orion, Sun and Sybase to Application Server Shoot-Out at Web Services Edge Conference

Market Wire, August, 2004

SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com), the world's leading i-technology magazine publisher, today announced that its upcoming cross-platform technology event in Boston, Web Services Edge 2005 East - International Web Services Conference & Expo (www.sys-con.com/edge2005east), to be held in the Hynes Convention Center, February 15-17, 2005, will present an "Application Server Shoot-Out" in which the main application server providers are cordially being invited to participate.

"The industry's continued emphasis on application integration, particularly with legacy systems, has really helped drive application servers into the heart of the enterprise," said Grisha Davida, president of SYS-CON Events, the show's producer. "Developers and IT managers alike are always asking exactly how the different application servers stack up. They want to know which ones support the latest WS-I specifications, which ones have the best performance, and -- perhaps most importantly -- which ones allow their developers to be the most productive. We will have vendor representatives from all the leading application server companies, including the emergent open source ones like JBoss and JOnAS."

Invited shoot-out participants include BEA (WebLogic), Borland (Borland Enterprise Server), IBM (WebSphere), JBoss (JBoss Application Server), JOnAS (Java Open Application Server), Macromedia (JRun), Microsoft (IIS / ASP.NET), Oracle (Oracle Application Server 10g), Orion (Orion Application Server), Sun (Sun Java System Application Server), and Sybase (EAServer).

"I predict a bloodbath," said Derek Ferguson, editor-in-chief of SYS-CON's .NET Developer's Journal. "Once the J2EE developers see how much more productive they can be on the .NET platform, I am sure they will all decide to run their next application on Microsoft's platform!"

"Performance is what matters," responded Ajit Sagar, founding editor of SYS-CON's XML Journal and J2EE industry expert, on behalf of the editorial board of JDJ. "The developer productivity benefits are largely the same from one application server to the next -- they are all just software containers tricked out with all the tedious application plumbing no one wants to write plus a runtime environment that enables components to be used by multiple applications."

The occasion will be a unique opportunity to learn first hand and on-site which app servers support the latest WS-I standards and how they compare in terms of how many transactions they can handle, how many lines of code they require, how they react to simulated network and hardware failures, and a whole range of other metrics.

"Even though Microsoft, IBM, and BEA have the lion's share of the market there are many viable app-server alternatives that offer excellent performance and ROI metrics for specific situations. As application servers are not a one-size-fits-all proposition, you will be in a position to find out at the Boston show which application server fits your specific performance and ROI metrics best," explained Davida.

The live shootout will be held in Boston Hynes Convention Center, during the second day of Web Services Edge and will be moderated by SYS-CON editor Jack Martin. More than 3,000 delegates from around the world are expected to attend this year's conference and expo. Participating teams can contact the event management by email at appservershootout@sys-con.com. Rules of the shootout will be set by the editorial board members of SYS-CON's magazines.

About SYS-CON Media

SYS-CON Media, listed in Inc 500 three years in a row as the fastest-growing privately held publishing company in America, is the world's leading magazine publisher exclusively serving i-technology markets. SYS-CON's well-known and respected magazine titles include: JDJ (www.javadevelopersjournal.com), .NET Developer's Journal (www.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com), Web Services Journal (www.wsj2.com), Wireless Business & Technology (www.wbt2.com), XML-Journal (www.xml-journal.com), WLDJ (www.wldj.com), WebSphere Journal (www.webspherejournal.com), ColdFusion Developer's Journal (www.coldfusionjournal.com), PowerBuilder Developer's Journal (www.sys-con.com/pbdj), Linux Business Week (www.linuxbusinessweek.com), LinuxWorld Magazine (www.linuxworld.com), MX Developer's Journal (www.mxdevelopersjournal.com), IT Solutions Guide (www.sys-con.com/it), and ISSG - Information Storage & Security Journal (www.issjournal.com).

Each month SYS-CON Media reaches over 1.2 million i-technology professionals through its specialty journals, magazines, books, conferences, education programs, and the SYS-CON interactive portal with its 97 Web sites at www.sys-con.com.

About SYS-CON Events, Inc.

SYS-CON Events, Inc. (http://sys-con.com/edge2005east) is the world's leading producer of i-technology developer conferences and expositions. SYS-CON Events' Web Services Edge 2005 East - International Conference & Expo, will take place February 15-17, 2005 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA.

All company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies in the United States and other countries. SYS-CON is independent of Sun and all other companies mentioned in this press release.