Collection of ideas and resources on WebSphere and IBM competitive position in the marketplace
IBM WebSphere Application Migration Toolkit has a new feature – it can migrate Tomcat applications and Tomcat configuration to the WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile. The tool is free to download and use for all.
In addition to Tomcat, the tool supports migration of applications from JBoss, WebLogic, OAS, and older versions of WAS into WAS v7 and v8.x.
If I had to compile a list of most frequently asked questions that I get, one of the top 10 is a question on the differences between WebSphere Application Server (WAS) and Apache Tomcat and their relative values as a function of cost. I assume that most of you are aware of the fact that WAS is a commercial product sold and supported by IBM and Tomcat is free Open Source product from Apache. At some point in the past Tomcat was the reference implementation for JSP and Servlet APIs and developed by a community of vendors and independent committers, including IBM, Oracle, Sun, BEA, Red Hat, JBoss, VMware, SpringSource (now part of VMware) and many others. It was (and still is) a great community effort. Most of the vendors listed above still contribute code and bug fixes to Apache Tomcat.
However software companies listed on public stock exchanges do not exist to contribute code to Apache and not expect anything out of that effort. Quite the contrary, the “big” Open Source of our day is very much commercially driven process (with few exceptions). Today several commercial software companies package Tomcat as part of their offerings, in some cases enhancing the product (as is the case with VMware tc Server), or simply selling Tomcat support directly to users (such as the case with OpenLogic and many others). As you might expect the cost of support for the free Apache product is not very expensive.
Apache Tomcat (and one of its commercial versions being tc Server) provide JSP and Servlet support and none other parts of the Java EE 6. How can you compare Tomcat to WebSphere, which is a full Java EE 6 implementation and some? The answer found by Prolifics is that you look at the Total Cost of Ownership for a certain configuration. There is no one answer fits all as Tomcat might be appropriate for some projects, but not others. One really needs to consider the project scope and requirements to compare the fitness of Tomcat or WebSphere for what one is trying to achieve.
Having done hands-on research in their lab, Prolifics published their findings in their new white paper “IBM WebSphere Application Server v8.5 vs. VMware vFabric tc Server v2.8 Technical and TCO Analysis”. Prolifics priced several different configurations and included two of them in the paper. Here is the five year TCO for WAS vs. tc Server for medium size configuration, NOT including the cost of JDK support (the one with JDK support adds another 30% to tc Server cost):
Click on the image above to download the full report.
To quote the paper: “After testing out tc Server, we observed that for the most part it performs as advertised – as a lightweight environment for simple applications that can be easily managed and monitored with the included tools. It is not suitable for large or Enterprise applications that require High Availability or robust failover. The comparable product in the WebSphere family is WebSphere Liberty Profile 8.5, the lightweight offering that is fully compatible with the rest of the WebSphere family, and thus provides a growth path that does not require any recoding. Our performance tests indicate that IBM WebSphere Application Server outperforms tc Server on common benchmarks, has better documentation, and is fully supported by a single vendor: IBM.”
Short answer to the question above is that WebSphere Liberty Profile is similar in footprint and startup time, but delivers more performance and more features compared to Tomcat or Jetty.
Read more about this: What is the difference between WebSphere Liberty Profile and Tomcat?.
Forrester Research has published a new paper titled “The Total Economic Impact To IBM WebSphere Application Server Migrating From An Open Source Environment. This paper is based on the interviews with a federal agency in US who migrated their existing development, test, and production environment away from open source application server to WebSphere Application Server. Based on the interviews, Forrester has completed financial analysis and found that a representative organization based in part on the agency interviewed experienced the risk-adjusted ROI of 51% with the payback period within 24 months.
Read full article here: Forrester paper on the ROI of migrating from Open Source to IBM WebSphere Application Server.
PS. Back in 2010 Forrester interviewed commercial Fortune 100 company and published this paper: “Forrester Total Economic Impact study for WAS vs Open Source.” This was a particularly interesting customer since they had a very large and important application that was not working well on the Open Source application server and was saved my moving it to WAS.
Last week in Las Vegas at the IBM IMPACT 2012 conference Stuart Smith and I delivered a session titled “WAS vs. WebLogic, JBoss and Tomcat: An IBM Perspective“. In this 75 min session we discussed key factors to consider when making a decision on which application server to use, such as cost of licenses and support, performance, availability and usability lab tests, administrative and development tools, and real world customer experiences. We discussed factors that contribute to TCO such as development and operating costs, and application performance and reliability. We discussed how new capabilities of WAS v8.5 enhance its competitive position.
If you are interested in this presentation, please send me email to whywebsphere@gmail.com and I will send you the PDF or PPT file (the session was not recorded). Please clearly state your name, employer and the reason you are interested in the presentation.
IBM Impact conference starts on Monday April 30. There will be several sessions where you can learn directly from IBM customers why they selected IBM over the competition, including former customers of Oracle, Sun, SAP, JBoss and others. Here is a list of these sessions below, but feel free to visit the Impact website to find other sessions of interest.
Join D+H, a premier integrated solutions provider to Canadian banks and financial institutions, as their representatives explore the rationale behind the migration from Oracle to IBM technology within a key line of business. Areas of focus include application server (WebLogic and GlassFish moved to WebSphere), Enterprise Service Bus, database, hardware, infrastructure operations and next-generation technologies.
When: Thu, 3/May 08:45 AM – 10:00 AM
Where: Venetian Murano 3205
Speaker(s): Michael Davison, Paul Lewis
Program: Technology
Track: Implementing Industry Solutions for Improved ROI
Choosing the right BPM vendor is a tough decision to make, but it doesn’t have to be. IBM clients will discuss their decision process and how and why they chose IBM as their process partner.
When: Mon, 30/Apr 03:45 PM – 05:00 PM
Where: Venetian Lido 3001A
Speaker(s): Antonio Barreto, Leslie Kramolis
Program: Technology
Track: BPM and Decision Management
Are you considering an Oracle WebLogic or an open source application server like Tomcat or JBoss? In this session we will discuss key factors to consider when making a decision on which application server to use, such as cost of licenses and support, performance, availability and usability lab tests, administrative and development tools, and real world customer experiences. We will discuss factors that contribute to TCO such as development and operating costs, and application performance and reliability. We will discuss how new capabilities of WAS v8.Next enhance its competitive position. Session will be presented by Roman Kharkovski, who has been a technical lead on the WW WebSphere Competitive Team since 1999 and Stuart Smith, who is lead consultant with Web Age Solutions and worked with all major application servers and Java since 1998.
When: Thu, 3 May, 08:45 AM – 10:00 AM
Where: Venetian Lido 3105
Speaker(s): Roman Kharkovski (IBM), Stuart Smith (Web Age Solutions)
Session #: 2390
This panel is made up of successful SOA technical leaders. Come to this session to find out how they have architect and implemented the technology that has enabled their businesses SOA strategy.
When: Mon, 30 April, 5:15 – 6:30 pm
Where: Venetian Delfino 4003
Moderator: Ian Heritage (IBM)
Customers: Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), Parker Hannifin, First National Bank of Omaha, Government.Israel (Gov.il)
SAP customers suffer issues with inflexible packaged applications preventing them from maximizing the value of their implementation. BPM is what enterprises embrace to improve IT agility and meet ever-changing business requirements. This presentation will introduce the new product and methodology of IBM’s BPM solution for SAP accounts: SSI4BPM based on IBM BPM. Through BPM-SAP model synchronization and application integration, the solution prevents many of symptoms plaguing SAP customers. It helps SAP customers accelerate the adoption of BPM, improve IT agility and gain more value from existing SAP investment. We will share IBM’s experience of SAP implementation with BPM technologies in IBM Blue Harmony program and the value generated.
When: Tuesday May 1, 4:45 – 6:00 PM
Where: Venetian Titan 2206
Speakers: Ajay Satsangi
It is increasingly important for organizations to have a balanced IT strategy of SOA/BPM and ERP consolidation to stay competitive. SSI4BPM (Smart SAP Integration for BPM) is an ongoing research initiative conducted by IBM Research collaborating with IBM SWG and BT/CIO to support SAP customers to adopt BPM and realize stable while agile IT infrastructure based on IBM BPM products. SSI4BPM resolves the symptoms plaguing SAP customers with the cutting-edge technologies, including SAP model synchronization, service definition exchange to achieve business agility. This talk will introduce the background, use scenarios, key technologies as well as value proposition of SSI4BPM. We will also show a demo of the latest progress in model synchronization between SAP Solution Manager and IBM BPM.
When: Thursday May 3, 8:45 – 10:00 AM
Where: Venetian Bellini 2105
Speakers: Ajay Satsangi
IBM Impact 2012 will take place between April 29 and May 4, 2012 in Las Vegas, USA. I will be hosting a session on the advantages of WebSphere Application Server vs. Open Source products, such as Tomcat, JBoss, etc. In the past 3 years when I hosted similar sessions, we had a fortune to assemble excellent panelists – IBM customers, who shared their stories on choosing between JBoss, Tomcat and WebSphere. Why not do the same this year?
If you are a current WebSphere Application Server customer and have experience of moving your applications from Tomcat, JBoss or other Open Source app servers to WAS, and you are willing to speak at the conference as a panelist on my session – please let me know. You can send me email with your contact information and a brief summary of your story to whywebsphere@gmail.com.
I hope to see you in Vegas in April!
What does Electric Tea Kettle have to do with IT automation? Clue – this has nothing to do with the fact that most IT departments have both – the Kettle(s) and IT.
Read full article here: Comparison of automation tools for large scale WebSphere, WebLogic and JBoss topologies.
WAS provides robust GUI and scripting for administration, powerful automation framework and reusable library of admin scripts. Multiple clusters can be created quickly with complete configuration, applications, tuning, etc. Administrative tasks can be easily automated right out of the box. Things are very different in the JBoss land. On the scale of 0 (worst) to 10 (best), I would rate JON “3″ (almost useless) for JBoss management and “7″ for JBoss monitoring. To illustrate my points I have recorded several demos. I think these demos are representative of the kinds of things that system administrators need to do on a daily basis.
Read full article and watch demos in HD here: Comparison of WebSphere and JBoss cluster management and application deployment demos.
Current market share numbers from IDC, Forrester, Gartner, etc. all rely on revenue from the sale of licenses and support. However it would be interesting to measure the true install base of the products to really know the penetration and user adoption. Please vote in the poll below to let us know which product is the “Primary” in your enterprise.
Soloman Barghouthi
Eric Berg
Roman Kharkovski