The Java application-server market has evolved into two camps. Some vendors provide a general infrastructure for running E-commerce applications--and everyone else scurries to offer value on those platforms.

Among the smaller vendors that have abandoned the pure-play application-server market is Billerica, Mass.-based SilverStream Software Inc. It plans to announce next week a new set of tools for building and deploying Web services and for creating business processes.

The SilverStream eXtend eBusiness Workbench furthers the company's strategy of providing tools for the application layer that sits on top of the application server, according to the company. With Workbench, developers can use a graphical interface to move XML-formatted data to corporate portal sites built with SilverStream's ePortal product and to the company's commerce applications, called xCommerce.

Workbench, which is scheduled to ship in the third quarter, also provides tools for exposing a company's Web applications as Web services using Simple Object Access Protocol (Soap). The tools can then be used to publish those services in a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, according to Steve Benfield, director of SilverStream's E-business strategy group.

Soap, an XML-based protocol for messaging and communication between business applications over the Internet, and UDDI, a kind of yellow pages for application services, are two core specifications for Web services. Supporters say the two will comprise the next-generation of Web application development.

Analysts say SilverStream's business strategy makes sense because BEA Systems Inc. and IBM have emerged as the market leaders for providing a general application server infrastructure for E-commerce software. Among the companies battling for third place is iPlanet, the alliance between Sun Microsystems and the Netscape division of AOL Time Warner Inc.

SilverStream has partnered with BEA to ensure integration between SilverStream applications and BEA's WebLogic server. Benfield says the company is also looking to partner with IBM, though SilverStream claims its applications will run on IBM WebSphere.

Chris Dial, industry analyst for Forrester Research Inc., says BEA has added technology similar to Workbench on WebLogic, but SilverStream still provides value. "I've talked with clients at Forrester, [system] integrators, and other people in the marketplace. What I consistently hear is: BEA's tools for integrating business processes and for building Web services aren't as advanced as some other players in the market," he said.

To hold onto its lead over IBM and bigger players in the infrastructure vendor space, BEA will have to continue evolving its Java 2 enterprise platform and take up resources that could be used to build applications to run on top. "Certainly a company like IBM can do it. It's less clear that a company like BEA can," Dial said. "IBM and Microsoft have vast resources, and can commit to new product lines pretty easily. Now the question is how fast they can move."

But Shawn Willett, industry analyst for Current Analysis, says SilverStream must still contend with the danger of being shut out if the platform vendors develop similar technologies. Says Willett, "That's a flaw in their strategy."

Related links:

Rethinking The Serverhttp://www.informationweek.com/831/microsoft.htm

App Vendors Meet E-Commerce http://www.informationweek.com/826/appserv.htm