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AS OF 5/16/2008 3:59AM EST
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2003 — Innovators & Leaders
Software development is a mature profession.
By SD Times News Team
June 1, 2003 —
The first programmer is generally considered to be Lady Ada Augusta Lovelace (1815-1852), and much of the theoretical underpinnings of today's computer systems evolved in the 1940s and 1950s. Yet the pace of change continues to accelerate. In today's software development community, there's plenty of room for innovation. Big companies, small companies, standards bodies, open-source projects all continue to advance the art, continuously setting a new direction and agenda for enterprise developers.
The SD Times 100, presented here for the first time, is our attempt to identify those tool and platform vendors that consistently offer an innovative approach to enterprise software development, as well as those that are in a strong leadership role in their competitive space. Those two attributes are not the same, of course, as innovation doesn't necessarily lead to market success, and often the biggest companies are the most firmly entrenched in the status quo.
Yet both leaders and innovators have something in common: Everyone is watching to see what they'll do next. Enterprise development managers look to them to set expectations for the next wave of computing, competitors regard them nervously, investors open their checkbooks, and other vendors wish to partner with them-or acquire them, as we saw often in 2002.
The era of Lady Lovelace may be over. But the legacy of computing innovation that she inspired is still very much with us.
Below is a partial list of the winners, the standout entry from each category. For the full list, please download the PDF edition of the 06/01/2003 issue and turn to page 19.
Collaboration—MKS, Inc.
MKS
continues to expand into the enterprise with significant upgrades to
Source Integrity Enterprise Edition and Integrity Manager, including an
innovating federated server architecture.
Components & Libraries—Trolltech AB
Qt
and Qt Embedded have become the libraries of choice for developers who
wish to build cross-platform applications in C++. Innovations in
scripting and integration set Trolltech A.B. apart in 2002.
Database & Data Access—MySQL AB
Not
only has MySQL become part of the essential troika of open-source
software, with Linux and Apache Web, but in 2002 the data-base gained a
strong following among enterprise developers.
Deployment Platforms—JBoss Group LLC
Despite
its inability to garner official J2EE certification from Sun, the JBoss
app server captured significant mind share over the past year, and the
company has emerged as a top Java contender.
Embedded & Mobile—ARM Ltd.
Not
only did the company's processors and cores advance significantly in
performance and efficiency, but their innovations had far-reaching
implications for other vendors' platforms.
Integration & Middleware—BEA Systems, Inc.
Having
started out as an integration vendor, BEA continues to excel in this
area, most recently with its Liquid Data presenting a new approach to
the aggregation of disparate information sources.
Modeling—Rational Software Corporation
Leading
up to its acquisition by IBM Corp., Rational continued to be the
800-pound gorilla in the modeling space. The new XDE innovated by
melding traditional modeling and visual development.
Standards Bodies & Consortia—Eclipse Consortium
Despite
its early history and controversial dispute with Sun's NetBeans
project, IBM's Eclipse open-source IDE project took a commanding lead,
winning incredible third-party acceptance.
Test & Debug—Compuware Corporation
The
premium tool lineup virtually guarantees a spot in every tester's
toolkit; from the ubiquitous BoundChecker to the DevPartner family,
it's a commanding presence in code testing/debugging.
Tools & Environment—Microsoft Corporation
Bill Gates & Co. took over the 2002 agenda with the release of
the .NET platform, and of the revamped Visual Studio .NET and C#
language. Through plug-ins and partners, it's the IDE standard.
Get the full list here (page 19).
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