Fundamental shift in enterprise approach to applications. (Tools).

According to Butler Group's most recent report, 'Application Development Environments-'Understanding the Revolution in Software Development', to remain competitive in the 'New' world, organisations appreciate they must undertake the transition to e-business (defined here in its widest sense and does not necessarily include e-commerce). They must also encompass existing business processes such as the extended supply chain and the remote deployment of applications to desktop, wireless and hand held devices.

The challenge that arises in making this transition is the gap that exists between the currently installed systems and the technologies underpinning future systems. This gap is reflected in many ways - in hardware and applications, in systems architecture and in infrastructure software - but above all in the skills of the company's developers. It is becoming apparent that the real challenge for the effective modem business is the affordability and creation of business critical applications in an environment, which may require changes in the design of the underlying infrastructure.

In its latest report addressing these issues, 'Application Development Environments', Butler Group believes there is a fundamental shift in the manner that organisations will design, build, deploy and maintain business-critical applications.

One of the author's of the report, lan Charlesworth commented, 'If IT is to overcome the challenges of escalating demand and complexity within the business processes of the enterprise combined with restricted budgets, there has to be a change in the way we create applications. A consequence of this shift will be a reduced focus on the ability of developers to 'bang out' line after line of monotonous code. In this environment the developer must acquire additional skills, and must utilise more sophisticated tools, within an Integrated Development Environment."

In examining both technical and market issues the report makes a number of key findings:

Technical

* The core functionality of a programming IDE has become a commodity.

* Vendors need to focus on providing support for the whole application lifecycle.

* UML modelling is a key technology for managing complexity,

* Support for Web Service creation and consumption is over hyped.

Market

* here will be a reduced focus on the programming abilities of developers.

* The IDE approach is preferred over best-of-breed tools.

* New vendors, such as TogetherSoft, interactive Objects, and Rational Software, with excellent modelling support will have a strong impact on the market.

* Several established vendors, such as Oracle and Borland have not been as successful in migrating to a development studio.

In addition the Report includes ten Technology Audits on vendors that have been identified as being, key players by Butler Group. The Report details what we see at the key strengths and weaknesses of the vendors' products and strategies and reveals:

* The need to adopt model-based IDES.

* The importance of patterns and code templates.

* The impact of evolving standards and frameworks such as Web Services, NET, and J2EE.

* Key technical differentiators amongst leading vendors.

* The key driving forces that are shaping the market.

* The changing role of developers and the development community.

Butler Group concludes, 'The critical success factors to creating the application development environment which will take business over the next technology/productivity hurdle are identified in this report.

www.butlergroup.com