BEA unfazed by Oracle threat

Application server vendor BEA Systems is banking on getting one in eight of its customers to buy more from it as it looks to fend off doubts about its future.

BEA needs to persuade only "about 15 per cent" of its current install base to adopt more of its products to guarantee its future, said Alan Banks, the company's UK managing director.

Having established a strong position in the application server market, BEA has recently focused on extending its product range - with varying degrees of success.

Earlier this year, it launched its application development platform, WebLogic Workshop.

Company chairman and chief executive officer Alfred Chang had said he wanted to get one million developers signed up to BEA's "dev-to-dev" support network by the end of this year.

Banks said that the company had missed its target, but was nevertheless encouraged by the numbers that had joined.

He said more news about expanding BEA's range, which currently includes integration and portal software, would be made available next spring.

But analyst firm Gartner raised doubts over BEA's future at their symposium in Cannes in the autumn.

Analyst firm Gartner raised doubts over BEA's future at their Symposium in Cannes this Autumn. Betsy Burton, vice president and research area director at Gartner, singled out BEA as a company facing an uncertain future, especially if Oracle decided to attack its customer base.

BEA's existing customer base includes a number of Oracle database users. "BEA is camping on its property and [Oracle] wants to kick it off," she said.