ZapThink: Rich Internet Applications Based on Ajax, Flash, and Java Will Quickly Supplant Current Static Web Applications and Portals

July 25, 2006; 05:58 AM
ZapThink released a report showing that demand for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and more sophisticated user interaction is increasing dramatically. RIAs provide an end user experience that combines the experience that users are most familiar with in desktop and client/server applications, such as rich graphical user interface, responsive performance and highly interactive functionality, with the scalability, distribution, and manageability benefits that Internet applications provide. The report entitled "Rich Internet Applications: Market Technologies and Trends" shows that Rich Internet Applications will continue to gain prominence in the enterprise, with companies spending more than $500 million on RIA applications by 2011.

"Users today increasingly demand more from their online user experiences," said Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink. "The convergence of SOA and Web 2.0 are leading organizations to retire their static Web pages and inflexible portal applications. Today's set the bar for user interactivity higher than ever before, and expect their online experiences to behave more like the desktop applications they are used to."

ZapThink's report aims to establish the current state of the RIA market, quantify business trends, and predict the future of the RIA markets. In particular, the report identifies emerging classes of business problems that RIA solutions target, current and future trends for spending on RIA solutions, the primary technological RIA approaches, average RIA deal sizes by technology and business problem, overall RIA market sizing, and categorization of RIA solutions by segment and market approach.

Other key findings of the report include:

-- The market for RIA solutions consists of three submarkets focused on delivering RIA components, environments, or extensions to Integrated Development Environment (IDE) suites.

-- There are four primary means for providing RIA capabilities: Adobe Flash virtual machine-based approaches; browser-based approaches that use JavaScript, XML, and other technologies, also known as Ajax; approaches that use Java applets or ActiveX controls; and custom-developed Java or .NET clients.

-- A set of six key business applications are motivating overall RIA spending consisting of enhancement of existing web applications: high-transaction and event-driven Internet applications, next-generation portals, enhanced business intelligence solutions, application modernization, and Service composition or so-called "mashup" solutions.

The report, available on ZapThink's Web site at www.zapthink.com, discusses several companies, including Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE), Altio (division of Integra SP), Backbase, Curl, DreamFactory, General interface a division of TIBCO (NASDAQ: TIBX), ICEsoft, Ideo Technologies, JackBe, Laszlo Systems, Macromedia (now part of Adobe), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nexaweb, SCO Group (NASDAQ: SCOX), Zapatec, and ZK, among others.

About ZapThink, LLC

Founded in October 2000, ZapThink, LLC (http://www.zapthink.com) is an IT advisory and analysis firm that provides trusted advice and critical insight into the architectural and organizational changes brought about by the movement to XML, Web Services, and Service Orientation. We provide our three target audiences of IT vendors, service providers and end-users a clear roadmap for standards-based, loosely coupled distributed computing - a vision of IT meeting the needs of the agile business. ZapThink is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. Its customers include Global 1000 firms and emerging businesses.