The survey results can be summarized as:

-Three quarters of enterprises using Java are using or planning to use Service Oriented Archiectures

-Over 30% have scalability problems and 56% have performance problems due to bottlenecks

-The vast majority of Java developers surveyed believe they have high performance requirements

-About one third of the Java developers surveyed had groups using C++ as well and Web Services technology is still relevant for C++ development

Survey Data Quality
The survey sent out to about 7,000 Java developers – primarily in the US and Europe (Asian/South America/African developers were not surveyed, unless they were CodeFutures customers). There were about 500 responders, which is consistent with other items in CodeFutures' newsletters. An iPod nano was given as a prize. The survey profile is not typical of the overall market profile a few ways:
-FireStorm/DAO is commercial software, so it does not attract many developers looking for free, open source software, which is a substantial part of the overall Java market
-FireStorm/DAO, as a productivity tool, attracts a lot of consultants and system integrations – who would use a wider variety of technologies than in house development teams
-no attempt was made to make the survey anything more than a 'straw pole' of CodeFutures' developers. There was no demographic information collected on the responders. So developers from large and small companies, Europe and the US, were all given equal weight, and there's no way to give a breakdown.

Survey Results and Analysis

Q1: Are you currently using/planning to use Web Services/SOA technology in production?

Yes – 76.5%

Analysis: The results confirm that Web Services/SOA technology is now fully mainstream and has widespread acceptance, even if it is not yet in widespread use. Using standards-based specifications for SOA provides huge cost savings in the long run compared with proprietary middleware like MOM.

Q2: Do you have scalability problems with your Java applications?

Yes – 31%

Analysis: Technically not a surprise. But its interesting that almost 1 in 3 Java developers are willing to ADMIT scalability problems.

Q3: Do you have very high throughput requirements with your Java applications that are currently unmet?

Yes – 56.7%

Analysis: This is perhaps the most solid result in the survey because the question is very specific. The result seems very high, so this is perhaps the item that should be followed up in another survey.

Q4: Do you develop Java applications with very high performance requirements?

Yes – 84.5%

Analysis: What “very high performance” means is subjective, but what is important for architectural decisions is that Java developers BELIEVE the have high performance requirements. Note that the profile of the developers in this survey probably taints this result. One thing is sure, the traditional J2EE server farms approach to scalability is just not working (whereas the POJO movement is gaining traction).

Q5: Are there any development groups in your organization using C++?

Yes- 33.5%

Analysis: This seems very high, but that's probably because CodeFutures has very little exposure to the C++ market. The result may be higher than normal due to the profile of the CodeFutures newsletter subscription list, which favors the top end of the Java market – large enterprises – that were probably developing in C++ before Java was introduced.

Q6 - Is your organization currently maintaining applications in C++ that you may wish to use in Web Services/SOA architectures?

Yes: 30.1%

Analysis: This is an extraordinary percentage, but the question is “may wish” rather than a more definitive ‘plan to use’. Interestingly, there were many that responded No to having development groups using C++ but yes to being interested in C++ Web Services. That seems to imply that legacy applications written in C++ are going to be maintained and used through Web Services. Good news for vendors of C++ Web Services technology. CodeFutures was interested in this question because the SDO API is available in both C++ and Java.

Survey Agenda and Conclusions
The reason for the survey was to decide if it was a good strategy to develop FireStorm/SDO. CodeFutures needed to know if there was real demand for Service Data Objects, which is ideal for high-performance SOA applications in both Java and C++ (hence the questions).

As it happens, the Service Component Architecture specification was announced around the time of the survey, which of course, puts SDO in a completely different perspective and makes it a much more strategic decision.

PJ Murray
CodeFutures Software

http://www.codefutures.com/weblog/corporate/