The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Service Bus, Q2 2006

Forrester evaluated leading enterprise service bus (ESB) vendors across more than 100 criteria and found that Cape Clear Software and BEA Systems were the top two performers overall. Other vendors in the leader category (from the highest score down) are Software AG, Progress (Sonic), IBM, and IONA Technologies. These vendors all scored well in the connection, mediation, and control and change categories. Close behind are two strong performers, Fiorano and PolarLake. The two first-time entrants in this evaluation (Software AG and IBM) both scored exceptionally well and highlight the ability of larger organizations to quickly ramp up new product functionality. Bottom line: This evaluation covers eight strong performers in the ESB space, and clients will have to carefully match their specific requirements to the detailed list of vendor features provided in this report.