C|Net schrijft dat Sun Microsystems twee nieuwe versies zal uitbrengen van haar ONE Application Server 7, programmatuur om internettransacties te regelen. De Platform Edition zal gratis voor Solaris en Windows te downloaden zijn, terwijl de Standard Edition 2.000 dollar per server zal gaan kosten. In ruil hiervoor krijgt men aanvullende managementmogelijkheden. De nieuwe software is volgens Sun beter afgestemd op de ontwikkeltools die er voor Java bestaan en biedt betere ondersteuning voor een aantal standaards. In januari zullen er ook versies voor SunLinux, HP-UX en AIX verschijnen, waardoor marktleider BEA wel eens harde klappen zal kunnen krijgen:
Sun's giveaway is intended to increase its share of the application server market. BEA Systems is the leader in the $2 billion market for application server software. But BEA's dominance in the market has begun to waver with increased competition from IBM and Oracle, which rank second and third, respectively, in the market overall. Sun ranks fourth with 7.9 percent market share, according to market researcher IDC.
Earlier this year, Sun announced plans to offer a free low-end version of its application server software as part of the Solaris operating system. The company said it is on track to release that version in January. Sun's giveaway could hit BEA hard as BEA sells most of its software on Solaris, running on Sun hardware. BEA is also trying to expand its market share. Last month, the company announced plans with Hewlett-Packard to bundle a free version of BEA's WebLogic application server software with its HP-UX 11i operating system.