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Technology Stocks : BEA Systems (BEAS) - Undiscovered Growth Stock -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Schultz who wrote (1847)	5/3/2001 6:25:59 PM
From: Zelix	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2477

IONA had early success in late-nineties when CORBA (a distributed systems standard) was a rage. I have been around in the industry for a while, this is what I've noticed in the industry of distributed computing. The industry is big and complex, hence I'd say this is what I observed from my limited experience. After acquiring TUXEDO, BEAS took great pain and launched a CORBA product as well (Iceberg and later M3). That time, 1997-98 timeframe, CORBA seemed poised to become a standard. IONA was a leader with first implementations of CORBA standards. IONA made the same mistake that another company, Transarc's Encina (acquired by IBM), made earlier - in pre-CORBA environment. Encina was built on an earlier standard called DCE. CORBA and DCE - are found to be overly complex and met with less success (than anticipated). (Of course, the principles never die, they reincarnate in other forms - such as EJB.) BEAS has strong roots in distributed computing, with its TUXEDO product. As new standards emerge they keep reinventing themselves, by applying latest standards on top of their strong time-tested platform. Standards per se do not solve enterprise problems, it is the implementation that matters. So far, BEAS (even during pre-BEAS times) managed to be the leader in implementing all emerging standards in distributed computing. They will continue to be - because they've done it over 20 years and will do the same over next 20 years. Now most importantly, BEAS has broad market following. The way I see is - BEAS will reach the position of Oracle over next few years. It has entered the tornado phase, and is on its way to become the gorilla. All these other players, like IONA, will be around as long as their currrent apps are, without any major growth. An example, similar to IONA, is Informix. 5 years ago we all thought that the DB market is big enough and can accommodate few players. But realistically, the customers and users like to see leaders emerge, over a period of time, and at the end latch to the leaders. This way, the IT managers/architects can be assured of success. No one gets fired for choosing a leader. Two years ago, I'd have hope on IONA .. today the leadership is established. I don't see it attractive over a long term. It may be a play, only in the short term. - Zelix