Backbase rated 'positive' in Gartner MarketScope for Ajax technologies and RIA platforms.
The MarketScope report evaluated Ajax Technology and RIA Platform vendors based on their product/service offering, Strategy, Viability, Pricing, Market responsiveness and Track Record and Market Understanding. For the second year in a row, Gartner evaluated the Backbase Enterprise Ajax Framework with a 'positive':
Founded in 2003, Backbase is one of the pioneering vendors in the commercial Ajax sector. The company is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with offices in San Francisco. The core team has remained together since the founding stage. The company has, over the years, evolved a mature and powerful Ajax framework that includes a library of client-side controls, a visual development tool, and server-side integration. On top of this, Backbase offers add-on products for portal-centric solutions, rich Web forms, and collaborative scenarios. The company's marketing emphasis is on external-facing scenarios, such as self-service and e-commerce websites that need to have broad reach and a high user experience impact.
The current version of the Ajax framework is 4.4.1. The Rich Portal product, released in June 2008, is at v.4.1. On top of this are customer engagement applications for cobrowsing, chat, analytics integration, split A/B testing and multivariate testing, forms, and product search. On the road map is a transition to open source for the free Community edition of the Ajax framework, reflecting the realities of the Ajax marketplace. The Rich Portal will be the area of strategic growth for Backbase, tapping into an emerging trend of lightweight, client-side, portallike software infrastructure (Adobe Mosaic).
The Backbase Next-Generation Portal for Financial Services provides the ability to deliver highly-personalized online experiences to delight customers and build loyalty while achieving aggressive eBusiness and eMarketing goals within unprecedented timeframes.
Positives:- Well-designed, full-featured Ajax product in a maturing market.
- Small agile vendor that understands the market, especially for external-facing sites.
- Vendor has achieved a certain track record and market penetration in the enterprise sector, as well as among public sites, compared to other closed-source alternatives.
- Vendor is well-positioned in the emerging category of lightweight, client-side portal frameworks.
