Gary Cole at Marin Research, Inc. (at http://www.marinres.com) says they are building a new J2EE based (non-Domino) product for the Websphere market. They Marin Research will also make use of the upcoming Lotus bridge products for their existing applications.

Cybernet Software Systems (at http://www.cybernetsoft.com), meanwhile, is yet to have a specific action plan for WebSphere, due to the present economic activity globally. However, according to Sethuram S, Vice President-Sales, Cybernet "Will continue to invest in leading edge technology solutions in the e-business arena where WebSphere continues to play an important role. We already have WebSphere certified resources to be ready to take on challenging assignments."

M7 Corporation, Inc. (at http://www.m7.com) is an application assembly platform provider, which delivers solutions designed to develop enterprise-quality J2EE Web applications. M7's Vice President of Marketing, Zack Urlocker, believes WebSphere has become the leading J2EE application Server, giving BEA a run for their money. "We see a lot of interest among our customers, so we have made WebSphere support a priority in our product, the M7 Application Assembly Suite. WebSphere brings a lot of power, but also some complexity due to J2EE. With M7, you get the power but with a much easier learning curve and high productivity tools."

Sherry Weinstein of Eclipse Education, Inc. (at http://www.eclipse-education.com) says that, as an education center, they are more in the mode of gleaning information and guidance from their clients as to what kind of education they would like to see. "We do get periodic requests for WebSphere training, but not often enough to create a space to run it on a regularly scheduled basis. As for our internal needs, there's no business justification for us to make the leap." Weinstein adds that Eclipses knows the WebSphere drum is being beaten pretty loudly by the folks at IBM, but they're "not convinced that the entire community is going to turn and run to the technology just for the sake of embracing what is said to be the answer.'". The reasons for their doubts are two-fold. "First, it's expensive. Second, it's geared toward the browser client. There are some 80 million seats of the Notes client out there, many of which incorporate the use of mission-critical, client-based applications as their way of doing business. It's too large an undertaking for many, particularly if there is no business driver for such a move."

Endeca (at http://www.endeca.com) is making a significant development investment in support of the WebSphere platform, according to Chip LeBlanc, Director of OEM and Partner Programs. "Not only is Endeca certified on the WebSphere Application Server, but we continue to strengthen our integration with WebSphere Commerce. Endeca is a preferred supplier for WebSphere Commerce, offering technology that provides best of breed search, our unique Guided Navigation functionality, and dynamic merchandising."