BT offers try-it-and-see Web services
Published: 26 Sep 2002 17:07 BST
BT will be selling Web services to its business customers in January, and expects this move to treble its managed application revenues inside three years. The service will let users try integrating their legacy applications at BT test centres, for a cost of £20,000 a month.
Introducing a three-pronged assault on the market -- an application component library, deployment environment and management layer -- BT Ignite chief executive Andy Green said that as a communications infrastructure company BT was best placed to offer Web services. "Getting the security and integration right is fundamentally a network job," he said, announcing the offer on Thursday.
BT has teamed up with US-based Flamenco Networks to provide the management layer. The deployment layer, which will allow users to develop web services in a test environment, will be based around either Microsoft .Net or Sun's J2EE -- BT announced a non-exclusive deal to use Microsoft's .Net at the launch. The offering will cost a one-off £10,000 charge for consulting and £20,000 a month for hosting.
All three elements will be available in January.
BT Ignite currently generates £150m from managed application deals across Europe, with just under £100m in UK revenues. It says sales in the UK alone will hit £300m by 2005.
BT will also act as a trusted broker of web services components, although Green admitted that the company would not take legal liability for the components provided: "We will test the components, and then discuss with the customer, the degree to which we will guarantee the components."
Quocirca analyst Clive Longbottom said BT was in a good position to pick up web services contracts from its existing users but might struggle beyond that core.
"They have a big customer base where there are a lot of legacy applications. And they are a trusted partner," Longbottom said.
"But to hit anything like the [revenue] numbers they are talking about BT are going to have come up against IBM Global Services and EDS. And fighting an incumbent is always tricky, especially one with the breadth of IBM which now owns PwC."
According to Longbottom it will be another 12 to 18 months before web services for internal applications begin to be implemented in significant numbers and up to four years before "we see completely open web services".
Longbottom questioned whether people would be willing to pay £20,000 a month for a test environment. "Legacy applications are built in house. Building web services round them will tend to be done in-house too as it may take too much effort to get them into the test environment. But he welcomed the company's strategy. "With web services it's important you suck it and see."
Peter Judge contributed to this report
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