Actional, Hurwitz & Associates and Thomson Prometric Highlight Critical Success Factors for Service-Oriented Applications.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2004

Survey Findings From Actional-Hosted Web Seminar Demonstrates the

Growing Need for Web Services Management Technology

In a recent Web seminar sponsored by Actional Corporation, Judith Hurwitz, president of Hurwitz & Associates, explained why Web services management is critical for the successful deployment of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and presented a blueprint for selecting a Web services management solution. The "How to Choose the Right Web Services Management Solution" Web seminar, which introduced the findings of a new Hurwitz & Associates white paper of the same title, also featured Actional customer, Thomson Prometric, who shared the company's experience migrating towards an SOA and the critical role Web services management plays in that process.

During the seminar Actional polled participants and found that more than 78 percent of the 100+ companies in attendance have begun to develop Web services applications. Of those, more than 86 percent currently or plan to use/evaluate a Web services management solution, reinforcing industry data that indicates a growing need for Web services management.

"The key to choosing a Web services management platform is to select a platform that has visibility into the management of the service network, shows results and can act as a foundation for growth," said Judith Hurwitz, President of Hurwitz & Associates. "Having a solution that is modular in nature is important because companies can then rollout Web services as their IT and business goals evolve. A modular solution such as Actional's, provides the flexibility for companies to move forward incrementally and 'tune' their approach to seamlessly grow into the solution as the Web services application environment matures and the solution requirements deepen."

Confirming Judith Hurwitz's comments, the results of the poll indicated that a modular architecture was the second most important factor when considering an enterprise-level Web services management solution, and one that relates to the number one factor: the ability to integrate with enterprise infrastructure. Participants' heavy weighting of these criteria highlight the need for a reference architecture around which companies can plan and implement their SOA deployments.

"Web services management is a key ingredient to a comprehensive SOA, but other components like directory services, identity management, perimeter security, and governance are critical as well. Beyond that, IT teams are sorting out how an SOA integrates with existing infrastructure including application servers and traditional management systems," said Dan Foody, Actional CTO. "Actional has modeled the SOA infrastructure ecosystem and thoroughly understands its interrelationships, enabling us to guide our customers as they tackle the broader challenges of building out an SOA. Further, Actional is working closely with leading vendors in each of the SOA infrastructure categories to ensure smart design and out-of-the-box integration as organizations move forward with their enterprise SOA initiatives."

Hurwitz emphasized that before beginning the Web services management platform selection process, companies must first assess their own approach to SOA deployments. Hurwitz defines three categories of SOA deployment based on the business problems companies are solving:

-- Tactical -- the basic requirements for selecting a piece of

software for meeting the needs of a particular project. These

projects are not enterprise in scale or scope, and the

selected tool need not address the full range of enterprise

issues.

-- Enterprise (strategic) -- additional requirements that define

an industrial-strength tool and advanced capabilities for

large-scale use across numerous projects and initiatives. The

tool is expected to grow and evolve along with the

organization's usage.

-- General -- requirements that represent the approach

organizations should apply when selecting solutions and tools

as part of a best practices approach. This involves a focus on

fundamentals of good architectural principals and best

software practices.

Regardless of which category of SOA deployment a company chooses, Hurwitz recommends an incremental, flexible approach to deploying Web services because it brings quick payback, leverages learning as companies progress, and minimizes risk.

Christopher Crowhurst, vice president of enterprise architecture for Thomson Prometric, the leading provider of comprehensive technology-based testing and assessment services, detailed the company's SOA rollout and outlined why they chose Actional to monitor and manage that environment. Thomson Prometric required a flexible architecture to support its incremental implementation strategy, enabling it to bring projects online in a logical progression without the need to build out the full management infrastructure at the outset. Based on competitive testing, it opted for Actional.

Of particular value to Thomson Prometric were the performance and flexibility of Actional's solution, as well as the interoperability of the solution components. With the solution in place, the company benefits from proactive monitoring of service performance; global SLA compliance visibility; metric analysis for corporate Six Sigma initiatives; and loose coupling of consumers and providers. For more information about Thomson Prometric's selection of Actional please see http://www.actional.com/news_events/press_releases/2004/0419.asp.

The Actional-sponsored Web seminar is available for replay at http://www.actional.connectthe.com/awaw.

For copies of the Hurwitz & Associates white paper, please visit: www.actional.connectthe.com/bpwphc.

About Actional

Actional is the Web services management market-share leader, committed to helping organizations avoid the cost and complexity of unmanaged Web services deployments. With proven experience at more than 100 Global 2000 customer sites, the company builds the management foundation required to harness the cost and performance benefits promised by Web services and Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA). Actional's solutions provide unmatched visibility, flexibility and active control across an enterprise Web services network -- ensuring uptime while dramatically reducing the costs of ongoing Web services management. Actional is a privately held company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Contact Actional at www.actional.com.