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BEA TURNS TO PARTNERS FOR HELP IN DEFENDING ITS MARKET LEADERSHIP AGAINST BIG COMPETITORS
WHEN THE MARKET FOR JAVA-BASED APPLICAtion servers finally ignited last year, BEA Systems found itself at the center of the explosion.
Since its 1998 purchase of WebLogic-and its namesake app server-BEA has been a leading provider of best-of-breed middleware. But its jump on the market goes back earlier than that. The CRN E-Star in app servers helped pioneer the space in 1996 when, a year after the company's launch, it acquired the Tuxedo app server from Novell.
Since then, BEA, San Jose, Calif., has steadily built its business and continues to fare well amid the downturn in Internet spending. BEA's pro forma earnings climbed 246 percent to $46 million in the first quarter ended April 30, while its revenue jumped 67 percent to $257 million. The company chalked up $819.8 million in sales for the year ended Jan. 31.
Being at the head of a fast-growing market has its dangers, however. BEA now faces a bevy of heavyweight contenders that want to knock the leader off its perch. The primary contender is IBM, which steadily gained market share last year with its WebSphere product suite and also launched a PR campaign that regularly takes potshots at BEA.
IBM's share of the app server...