Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

In Europe, the adoption of next-generation enterprise apps — ERP or CRM based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles — will drive a rationalization of infrastructure choices. In North America, the position is different: Customers will want next-generation apps to run on their preferred infrastructure platform choices. Several other factors, such as vertical industry, SOA development, and decision-maker maturity, will drive user behavior around these two scenarios. The major impact? Users will choose infrastructure layers and apps less independently than is the case today. Clients will face radically fewer choices, but will still look for ways to avoid overdependence on a single vendor. With that in mind, they will include a new layer between middleware and apps — a composite application framework (CAF). The CAF will fill holes in apps and/or middleware, adapt better to firms' vertical requirements, mask complexity in lower layers of the stack, and better answer time-to-market requirements.

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