InformationWeek

Performance is obviously an important consideration. Because app servers do all the heavy lifting between front-end Web servers and back-end databases, the speed with which they can execute complex processes will have a major impact on site performance. Unfortunately, today's complex Web apps are so unique that it's virtually impossible to compare app server performance in production environments.

And even if one application server is inherently faster than another, performance gains can be achieved through smart application design. Creating smaller application components, for example, can speed processing, although such granularity has to be weighed against the additional assembly work it creates for software developers.

Connectivity support options can also drive an app server decision as developers seek to link their applications to a wide range of internal and external data sources. But most app server vendors are quick to match any new types of connectivity their competitors offer, so such differentiation is often temporary.

Application server vendors also offer a variety of other specific features that may appeal to E-business developers. Management reporting and alerts, for example, may be important for managers of high-volume, high-availability applications. "We have millions of users coming to our sites every day," says Active Research's Kazeroonian. "We want to know if someone had a problem with a form at 2 a.m. on Sunday night, especially if it's a subscription site that someone is paying good money to use."

Planalytics' Worden likes the "rollback" feature that his Bluestone application server offers. This feature lets Planalytics revert to a previous version of its site's software configuration with a single click of a mouse. "That's a great feature if you launch a new version of your site and suddenly find yourself in trouble," he says.

But Worden cautions app server buyers about being seduced by a feature-to-feature comparison. Ultimately, it's the productivity of their developers that companies must strive to maximize. "It's less of a technology decision and more of a resource decision," he says. "If you choose a solution that lets you get the best application out of the least number of developers, you'll be able to get to market more quickly and be more profitable."

In Worden's case, he launched Weatherplanner.com in just 100 days, using five people. He attributes much of his success to the way his application server environment let his developers work with the Java tools they were most comfortable using. "The best developers available on the market are doing development in Java on Solaris platforms," Worden says. That's why, he adds, it's critical to offer Java-on-Solaris developers a development environment that accommodates their individual approaches to writing code.

Finally, there's the issue of cost. App server vendors offer a variety of different licensing schemes, pricing and packaging their toolkits in ways that make it difficult to comparison-shop. "One vendor we were considering wanted us to pay for their solution on a per-hit basis," recalls Kazeroonian. "With customers like Yahoo and InfoSeek, there's no way we were going to go with that."

So while buyers such as WealthEngine.com's Glowacki are able to get all the functionality and connectivity they need for slightly more than $100,000, users of higher-end offerings from vendors such as BEA Systems and IBM can easily spend upward of a half-million dollars for a complete E-business development environment.

But it's not just the cost of buying the software that app server customers need to consider before moving ahead--it's the total cost of the training, services, and development effort required to implement the system. It's a commitment that no IT manager can afford to take lightly, and it isn't something any company should take on unless it has some pretty heavy-duty E-business application requirements.

Because of the central role application servers play in a company's overall E-business architecture, IT decision-makers should be particularly careful not to let short-term development objectives compromise their long-term flexibility. "A lot of the time, developers just think about writing the code they need to get the immediate job done," says Giga Information Group VP and research leader Mike Gilpin. "But that approach can lead to vendor lock-in if you're not careful."

So as difficult as it may be, IT managers need to look past the immediate pressures of E-business development and consider exactly what kind of business partnership they really want to enter into with their app server vendor. Otherwise, when the honeymoon is over, the company could find itself in a committed relationship that can be very expensive to undo.

--Lenny Liebmann, InternetWeek

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