Western Europe Web Services Market Analysis, 2002-2007

Current adoption dynamics

Project spending by IT segment

The total Western European Web services opportunity, including hardware, software, and services, will grow from $108 million in 2002 to $7.8 billion in 2007, giving a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 135%. The distribution of the total opportunity between the three areas will change during the forecast period: In 2002, software spending will be 52%, hardware spending 17%, and services spending 31%. In 2007, software will be the smallest segment.

Project spending by Enterprise size

By enterprise size, project spending is weighted towards large firms during the forecast period. In 2002, large enterprises make up 44% of the $108 million forecast, medium-sized enterprises make up 3%, while small enterprises make up 53%. By 2007, this pattern has changed markedly, with large enterprises making up 83%, medium-sized enterprises making up 7%, while small enterprises make up 10%.

Market IT Strategies

The adoption of Web services will take place in two broadphases:

Definitions

IDC has sought to carefully restrict the definition to one that we believe is accepted by the majority of IT respondents. By IDC's definition, the use of XML alone is not sufficient to qualify as a Web services project.

Web services are Internet technology-based "machine-to-machine services" that are based on what IDCcalls the WSA. WSA is a distributed computing model using a standardized approach to dynamic component connectivity and interoperability that relies on self-describing components. In a WSA, components interoperate remotely at run time using open connectivity standards, such as IP (Internet Protocol) and selected XML-based standards, including.