ERP, like many other mission-critical enterprise-class applications, is in the process of a makeover. Gartner coined the term ERP II and describes it in terms of deployment and business strategies. ERP II puts an outward focus on ERP. Where ERP focuses on internal systems, ERP II turns it eyes toward the integration and aggregation of supply chain, business partner and mission-critical systems. This includes a fast move toward thin-client applications, making ERP II systems less tied to their legacy-based heritage. SAP, which has been pushing its mySAP.com for more than a year, has been gaining traction in the market, and PeopleSoft recently released version 8.0, which is a thin-client, Web-based iteration.
While traditional ERP focused on technology, analysts at Gartner stress that ERP II includes the lessons learned from the failure of ERP in the 1990s. Specifically, ERP II factors in the business processes and people side of IT. ERP II may be more successful in the next year if companies buy into this analysis and re-examine the business needs behind implementation.
Web-based technologies and content-generation tools make a growing pool of information available for the Internet, intranets and extranets. An estimated 7.3 million pages are added to Web sites each day, according to Cyveillance. And that sounds low to us. This incredible volume makes it more difficult for online users to find enterprise sites and for your employees and customers to extract relevant information from expensive online content on your intra- or extranet. Search engines can ensure access to content and leverage it for competitive advantage.
Internet-based search engines match text patterns delivered from Boolean or keyword searches with text stored in indexes or databases generated from Web pages. Internet search engines, like AltaVista and Google, use Web crawlers or spiders to troll the Internet, locate and catalog Web pages, and rank pages by the number and quality of their links using algorithms with link-analysis technology.
Companies can make their pages amenable to spiders and more visible to search tools by detailing HTML title, meta and header tags in pages and using keywords and links throughout the site. In addition, enterprises can pay to play.
Go.com (InfoSeek) started a trend this year in paid placement programs guaranteeing enterprise listings to appear in the top of Internet search results that match with subscribed keywords. This pay-per-click placement model is weathering the online advertising slowdown and aligns the needs of customers with relevant sites and enterprises, according to Jupiter Media Metrix. Whether this model will replace the paid advertising that accompanies unpaid listings from other engines remains to be seen. Search engines like AltaVista, Fast and Google will continue to seek partners in the vertical, online media and publishing market to share content and directory listings.
Search engines that cater to enterprise intranets and extranets index more than Web pages. They search across multiple document types using probabilistic as well as Boolean and keyword searching. Probabilistic search strategies match queries with subject classifications linked to a database. In 2002, search engines will include natural-language queries and probabilistic searching using data definitions or taxonomies developed from enterprise content. Smartlogik Group offers such an engine, with its muscatdiscovery natural-language search tool and muscatstructure rules-based categorization engine.
A key differentiator among search engines will be their strategies to work with partners and move into key horizontal markets through knowledge- and document-management packages and portal software aimed at the enterprise market. Over the past year, Inktomi allied with BroadVision's One-To-One Enterprise, and AltaVista agreed to provide search functionality in IBM's WebSphere Portal Server. AltaVista also joined Oracle's Portal Partner Initiative to put search capabilities in Oracle's portal initiative aimed at the enterprise.
Development Tools and Frameworks
Talk about déjà vu all over again. During the coming year, Microsoft and Sun will drop the gloves and come out swinging to win the hearts and minds of the developer community. The battle between .Net and ONE over the next couple of years should prove to be the most interesting in the computing industry.
The stakes are enormous. We don't think it's an overstatement to say the potential revenue stream generated by Web services over the next five to 10 years will eclipse anything we've seen in the software industry. The technology that dominates in this space will determine where that revenue stream flows. Microsoft came out of the gate first, and Sun seems to be playing "me too" with announcements that mirror Microsoft's, only months later. But this race is much too early to call as Java enjoys a significant advantage in momentum.
The personalities involved in the Web services arena are larger than life, and the people are fueled with the same fire that motivates a lioness to protect her cubs. Steve Ballmer, president and chief executive of Microsoft, dismissed rival Sun's efforts to compete with Passport as "craziness" built on a "weak foundation." Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun, lashed back evoking the beta name for one of Microsoft's key .Net initiatives, Hailstorm: "Ever been in a hailstorm? ... It's billions of balls of ice coming at you from every inch and there's nowhere to hide -- and it destroys everything in its path." Them's fightin' words!
Are you worried about Microsoft's lack of support for Java? On one hand, you don't have to be: Sun will make sure the latest JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is available for the latest Microsoft OS (read: XP) via a download of a few million bytes of code. On the other hand, Microsoft is a 500-pound gorilla, so keep your eye on which technologies it emphasizes to compete with Java.
One of the most significant trends and greatest problems in Web development will be cross-device publishing, according to a recent Evans Data survey. Web-based applications need to be designed to run on everything from mobile phones to desktops.
The browser will continue to be a problem but less so than before, because Netscape's browser is just about dead. It has been on life support for years, but now Netscape is finally pulling the plug. In June, Netscape President Jim Bankoff indicated Netscape would be getting out of the browser business. Mozilla and Opera will continue to win adherents from the legion of people who despise Microsoft.
Netscape's departure from the browser business isn't all bad news. Most end users couldn't care less about what browser they're using as long as it works. However, Web application vendors can concentrate on writing for Microsoft Internet Explorer, and achieve faster development cycles, less overhead and, possibly, better applications more quickly.
The biggest problem presented by developing applications tied to a browser front end is that applications written for the Web continue to pale in comparison with those written to the Windows API. But, thanks to the efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the differences between browser-based and native applications is blurring.
Application Server Architecture
All Internet applications, at some level, require an application server. Whether it's a simple contact database or a Web-enabled implementation of a complicated business process, the data resides at one end, the user interface at the other, and logic and processing power lie in between. Application servers help with the in-between part. They're new implementations of an old term: middleware.
Many application servers are built around the J2EE (Java2 Enterprise Edition)/EJB (Enterprise JavaBeans) platform, and many have components that talk CORBA and COM+, and XML. This makes for a level playing field for large environments with the wherewithal to build large applications that need the reliability and scalability these systems offer. In general, support of J2EE lends itself to the definition, but a larger category of products can be considered application servers. Portions of .Net, ColdFusion and PHP are not even Java-oriented, but application -server functionality can be built from them.
Besides the big players, database vendors, Web server vendors and OS vendors are incorporating application-server functionality into their wares. This makes it easier to build applications, though without some of the extras that the big players give you. BEA Systems' WebLogic and IBM's WebSphere lead the market with 41 percent and 31 percent, respectively, followed by iPlanet, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard Bluestone and others, according to Gartner. These statistics don't include Microsoft's offering because it's bundled with Windows.
Customers will have to weigh the importance of implementing a complete application server with smaller, more specialized offerings. Complex projects will still warrant standard application-server packages. However, we'll see more application-server features in more products or packaged with them. Many will be bundled with portal software, database servers and CRM environments. And with the .Net initiative, we'll see more application-server functionality being used as services. The application server itself, however it morphs, will remain an important part of Internet infrastructure.
Ron Anderson is a senior technology editor of Network Computing. Before joining the staff, he managed IT in various capacities at Syracuse University and for the Veteran's Administration. Send your comments on this article to him at randerson@nwc.com.
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