Microsoft will rely on its time-tested bundling strategy, key to its successful capture of the desktop market, to help jumpstart its server software business.
A new server software bundle code-named Jupiter will enter customer testing before the end of June, according to company representatives. The bundle, which includes some of the company"s server products for building custom business applications, is the cornerstone to Microsoft"s ambitious plans to increase its share of the fast-growing market for integration software.
Microsoft"s strategy binds together at least three of its server applications into a single bundle. Jupiter includes BizTalk Server integration software; Content Management Server, for storing and presenting business documents; and Commerce Server, for building e-commerce Web sites.
Still, Microsoft is coming relatively late to the $1.5 billion market for integration software, which has become one of the software industry"s most hotly contested arenas. A number of entrenched integration software companies are feeling increased competition from heavy-hitters such as IBM, Oracle and BEA systems.