Small firms turn to Java

The use of J2EE for software development in small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) has jumped by 50 per cent in the past six months, according to research published today.

Evans Data Corporation's latest SMB Development Survey reported that almost one in four developers working for small firms now uses J2EE, and another 13 per cent will be using it within two years. 

Some 60 per cent of SMB developers will use Java/J2SE/J2EE at least some of the time this year, and a fifth are spending the majority of their time developing in Java.
Java development is expected to grow to almost 70 per cent of the SMB development population next year, with 35 per cent dedicating the majority of their time to development using the language.

"Developers in SMBs do not have the resources or budgets of larger development shops and need to go with what works now, not what they can learn and put into use six months or a year from now," said John Andrews, president of Evans Data.

"Java has worked for a long time and there's a tremendous body of knowledge and expertise surrounding the technology. The race to market is critical for the SMB developer and, by using Java, they are able to meet their deadlines and budgetary restraints."

The Evans Data survey, which polled 400 developers at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, also found that 22 per cent spend all their time working on internal web services.

Some 45 per cent reported an increase in corporate security budgets, but two thirds experienced a security breach in the past year.