(July 25, 2003) - A new report emphasizes Candle Corporation's significant role in empowering businesses to harness the capabilities of their IBM WebSphere infrastructures. The WinterGreen Research Inc. study shows that Candle has increased its global market share in WebSphere MQ management solutions from 61 percent in 2001 to 65 percent in 2002. Additionally, Candle has achieved a 36-percent worldwide market share in 2002 for management of WebSphere Business Integration Brokers; Candle held 19 percent of the market in 2001.

"Middleware continues to be a linchpin for any e-business environment," said Sue Eustis, senior analyst, WinterGreen Research, Inc. "Performance tuning and management for middleware are critical elements in aligning enterprise infrastructures with specific business processes and applications. We project continued growing demand for solutions provided by Candle and other vendors to support each phase of the middleware life cycle."

Candle's significant market share in WebSphere management reflects demand for the Candle PathWAI™ solution portfolio. Candle's PathWAI Monitor for WebSphere MQ is the dominant solution in the mission-critical middleware messaging system management market, holding 65 percent of the market. Candle is also a category leader in the application integration systems management market, with a 36-percent market share.

WinterGreen Research projects that the worldwide mission-critical middleware market, currently at $555 million, will reach $4.9 billion by 2008. Key drivers for the continued growth of the middleware market include business requirements to further align front-end Internet systems with data in back-end systems and the need for added business process management. The rapidly growing middleware market creates a parallel growth opportunity for WebSphere MQ management solutions.