Enterprise Connectivity Software

Enterprise connectivity software enables devices to exchange, modify, and/or present host-based network data. It includes products for converting one protocol to another, protocol stacks, and software that performs conversion of the network format, data, or presentation.
It also includes software that provides Web-to-host data exchange. The Web-to-host approach generally provides the system infrastructure components for a runtime environment designed specifically to transparently access and update one or more legacy application programs by leveraging existing legacy program presentation data streams and/or APIs as interfaces. The capability may be included to graphically map the input request to the legacy programs that must be invoked as well as to aggregate results from multiple application programs that must be combined to satisfy a single request. Representative vendors and products include the following:

• AttachmateWRQ (host-integration software)
• IBM (Communications Server and WebSphere Host Integration)
• Microsoft (Host Integration Server)

Content networking infrastructure software is a submarket within enterprise connectivity software. Products in this submarket enable IP applications, including streaming, to be delivered to end users in a reliable, scalable, and secure fashion while minimizing bandwidth usage. The components of content networking infrastructure software include content routing, content caching, and content distribution and management. The vast majority of products that compete in this space are sold as network appliances. The software-only products are represented in the IDC software taxonomy. Representative vendors and products include the following:

• Network Appliance (NetCache Software)
• IBM (WebSphere Edge Server)