Application servers completely change the way that Web and core business applications are built. By providing the ability to centralize dynamic HTML page generation, three-tier client access, security, processing logic, and data access—something only dreamed about in the past—application servers allow scalable HTML and distributed client/server computing to enter the mainstream of corporate IT development. Because Web development and corporate IT development have typically been separate and have had different goals, the new application server market seems cluttered and its messages are mixed. What may seem to be the perfect server to one group might look like the dumbest design around to another. Over the next year, the application server market will most likely splinter into three groups: pure enterprise servers that are tool independent, develop-and-deploy servers that integrate tools and servers, and page servers that focus only on pages versus three-tier client/server. I think the servers will begin to look more like each other and that the primary differentiator will be how productive and robust the development environment is. As the market becomes more segmented, there will also be more consolidation—as winners appear in each category, the other players will either be purchased by larger vendors or fade away. When looking at application servers, you need to establish an idea of the types of applications that will be built for the server and which groups will be developing and maintaining those applications. Also determine how important the following factors are: data access, scalability, openness, developer productivity, Java compliance, page generation, and vendor viability. Prices of application servers vary considerably. Each vendor charges for deployment, and some also charge per developer. Cost varies from simple server—or processor— based pricing to concurrent user pricing. Prices range from $3500 per server to over $30,000 per processor. Regardless of the application server you choose, one thing is clear: It will be different from the way you develop applications today—regardless of what you're used to.
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