Promise: Eclipse proponents say the platform will produce an IDE that will allow IT to move from abstract Web services design to development and testing within a single application environment.
Players: Participants include nearly 40 established developers, including HP, IBM, SAP, Novell, and Oracle, and smaller developers such as Genuitec.
Prospects: Eclipse is the second leading development environment behind Visual Studio. Its plug-in framework and low cost make it particularly attractive to IT. The new SOA tools should only enhance that standing.
