ZapThink Recognizes Forward-Thinking Vendors as “ZapThought Leaders” of XML, Web Services, and Service Orientation

ZapThink Recognizes Forward-Thinking Vendors as “ZapThought Leaders” of XML, Web Services, and Service Orientation
ZapThought Leadership program headlines major expansion of ZapThink’s services

WALTHAM, MA, September 2, 2003 — Actional Corporation, Ascential Software (NASDAQ: ASCL), Digital Evolution, Flamenco Networks, Infravio, Netegrity (NASDAQ: NETE), Raining Data (NASDAQ: RDTA), Reactivity, Sonic Software, Swingtide, and Westbridge Technology are among the software vendors recognized as “ZapThought Leaders” by ZapThink LLC, the leading industry analyst firm with research focused on XML, Web Services, and Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs).

“To be recognized as a ZapThought Leader, a vendor must be dedicated to helping their customers understand how to use XML, Web Services and SOAs to meet their business needs,” said Jason Bloomberg, Senior Analyst, ZapThink. “We are pleased to recognize so many outstanding vendors as ZapThought Leaders, ” said Ron Schmelzer, Senior Analyst, ZapThink. “The fact that these vendors are committed to helping their customers build more agile, cost-effective architectures is a good sign for the industry, now and in the future.”

ZapThink is also rolling out significantly expanded research covering Service-oriented integration, Service-oriented management, Web Services security and identity management, Service-oriented process, XML and Web Services content and presentation, implementation of Web Services and SOAs, SOA tools, the practice of SOA, and XML infrastructure. ZapThink’s redesigned, powerful Web site offers the ability to cross-reference key ideas, companies, and research findings, providing valuable insight, research, and strategic information to a broad audience.

“ZapThink’s focus on Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures has enabled them to provide in-depth research and analysis in this fast growing industry,” said Kerry Champion, president and founder of Westbridge Technology. “We are pleased to be a member of the ZapThought Leadership Program and share in providing insights to the industry.”

“The ZapThought Leadership program is a great way of recognizing the leaders in the emerging Web Services marketplace,” said David Wroe, CEO of Swingtide, Inc. “We’re delighted to be included through the work that we have been doing to help companies plan and understand their XML networks and the resultant business contribution.”

“Sonic Software has long been dedicated to evangelizing SOA-based integration as an effective new architecture for broad-scale enterprise integration projects,” said Dave Chappell, VP & Chief Technology Evangelist for Sonic Software. “ZapThink is very much in tune with what the industry needs to bring SOA to the next level of distributed, standards-based integration, and the ZapThought Leadership program is a great way of recognizing the leaders in this area. We’re delighted to be included.”

“The ZapThought Leadership Program clearly places ZapThink in the forefront of the rapidly expanding Web Services market as a critical source of expertise for vendors and other organizations,” said Glenn Osaka, CEO of Reactivity. “We are pleased by ZapThink’s recognition of our efforts in the Web Services security field, and are confident their expanded research focus will be a tremendous benefit to the industry.”

“ZapThink is on the forefront of the industry with its visionary understanding of the importance of mid-tier data aggregation in the SOA-enabled enterprise,” said Boris Geller, VP of Market Development at Raining Data. “Ron Schmelzer and Jason Bloomberg have been influential in spreading the concept of using XML-enabled data servers to build efficient, scalable, low-cost information integration platforms.”

“It’s wonderful that ZapThink recognizes that Netegrity is pioneering Web Services security. ZapThink inherently understands the importance of security and identity management to building Service-Oriented Architectures,” said Stephanie Feraday, Vice President of Marketing at Netegrity. “We’re happy to be a part of their ZapThought Leadership program.”

“Infravio has found that Zapthink provides critical insight into the Web Services market and its direction,” said Jeff Tonkel, Infravio President and CEO. “Their expertise adds critical perspective to our approach and long-term growth plans. We are pleased to be recognized as a ZapThought Leader and believe it validates our own direction, products and solutions.”

“ZapThink has been a thought leader in the Web Services market from its inception and has been invaluable in helping Web Services Management providers like Flamenco Networks define our space,” said Ralph Calistri, President and CEO of Flamenco Networks. “We look forward to being involved in the ZapThought Leadership Program and making a contribution to helping companies better understand how to utilize Web Services to benefit their businesses.”

“We consider ZapThink to be at the forefront of capturing, analyzing and characterizing the fast-evolving Web Services market, where Digital Evolution is a fast-emerging leader,” said Eric Pulier, Chairman and CEO of Digital Evolution. “They recognize the importance of our key strengths in security, management and integration solutions, and how they fit within large enterprises.”

“Just as Ascential Real-Time Integration Services have changed enterprise data integration by extending our market-leading data profiling, quality, and transformation solutions using SOA and Web Services, ZapThink is also reshaping the technology landscape by sharing its informed, experienced perspective on the intersection of Web Services and data integration with the market,” said Bob Zurek, VP of Advanced Technology at Ascential Software. “It’s an honor to be recognized as a ZapThought Leader.”

“With their industry expertise and insightful research, ZapThink has become a ‘go-to’ resource for focused analysis and commentary on the Web Services marketplace, ” said Frank Bergandi, CEO of Actional Corporation. “ZapThink has been very helpful to Actional as we bring our Web Services management products to market. We are pleased to have earned the distinction of ZapThought Leader.”

In addition to being leaders in their respective markets, ZapThought Leaders subscribe to ZapThink’s research service, which provides premium research, analysis, and insight into XML, Web Services, and Service orientation. These ZapAccess subscribers have joined an exclusive club of companies “in the know.”

About ZapThink, LLC
Founded in October 2000, ZapThink, LLC (http://www.zapthink.com) is an IT market intelligence firm that provides trusted advice and critical insight into XML, Web Services, and Service Orientation. ZapThink provides their target audience 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 Waltham, Massachusetts. Its customers include Global 1000 firms and emerging businesses.

ZAPTHINK CONTACT:
Ronald Schmelzer
ZapThink, LLC
11 Willow Street, Suite 200
Waltham, MA 02453
Phone: +1 (781) 207 0203
rschmelzer@zapthink.com

Read more at: ZapThink Press Release