This IDC study provides a top-down sizing of the 3GL tools market in 2004 and a 2005?2009 forecast for this market. Historical and forecast revenue data is shown for the total worldwide market and by geographic region and operating environment.

"The 3GL tools market is a mature market. Nevertheless, it will persist despite the fact that more and more development is done at higher levels of abstraction," said Steve McClure, program vice president for IDC's Application Development Software research at IDC. "Overall success in this mature marketplace will be the net result of support for increased developer productivity coupled with other astute strategies for technology innovation, marketing, integrated business models, and strategic partnering with vendors offering complementary solutions."