Gartner Report Reveals Excessive Spending on App Server Technology

Gartner, Inc. Tuesday issued a report that estimates enterprises have overspent about $1 billion on application server technology solutions since 1998. The report further projects that an additional $2 billion may be wasted between now and 2003.

“The application server vendors are encouraging customers to purchase higher-end technology that they just don’t need,” said Gartner vice president and research director David Smith. “It’s like buying gourmet food to feed kids at summer camp. It’s just not necessary.”

Gartner, Inc. Tuesday issued a report that estimates enterprises have overspent about $1 billion on application server technology solutions since 1998. The report further projects that an additional $2 billion may be wasted between now and 2003.

Based on the data gathered, Gartner recommends enterprises bear in mind the following to keep costs down when purchasing and implementing application server technology:

• An application server is a function, not a product. Therefore, it is often beneficial for an organization to check its technology inventory to see if similar capabilities are found in available or free products.
• An application server is not always Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) compliant. For example, the Microsoft product line lacks J2EE and Java but has application server functionality.
• Although components of application server technology, J2EE and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) are not the same thing. Most Java projects use Java Server Pages (JSP) or servlet capabilities and not EJB. Higher-priced application servers are designed to run EJB, yet they are using JSP or servlet capabilities instead.
• Confusion or hype are not reasons spend more money than necessary.

Gartner estimates that by 2003 at least 70 percent of new applications will be deployed using high-end application servers, and 60 percent of all new J2EE application code will remain JSP- or servlet-only.

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