Web 2.0 is about collaborating and working more efficiently for the good of the company.

“[Consumer] Web 2.0 is about stickin’ it to the man or user-owned data,” he says.“In the enterprise it’s all about getting your job done better.”

Because Web 2.0 is still evolving, enterprises aren’t sure what technology to bet on. They may have a choice between Microsoft Silverlight or Adobe AIR for creating applications within the Ajax framework.

“If you go with one of those solutions, you had better be right or you’re stuck,” Farrell says.“[Enterprises] need the assurance that they’re not going to be stuck again years from now.”

But a more critical concern is what applications an enterprise will allow on the client and which it must keep on the server, says Robert Brewin, CTO of the software group at Sun.

Take for example, the Ford Motor Web site that lets visitors browse through car and truck models, and“build” their car with options, Brewin says. One feature lets them click on a red square and the picture of the Taurus onscreen changes to red. Click green and the car turns to green.

“Web 2.0 is perfect for that,” he says, because it’s a fairly benign action.

But if a customer wants to actually buy a Taurus and provide personal information online, or a dealer wants to have the factory deliver one, or someone in Ford’s supply chain wants to pay a supplier when parts for that Taurus arrive at the assembly plant, those actions need to be reliable and secure, and that means on the server, not the client, Brewin says.

“That’s an example of where I’m going to want to step out of the Web 2.0 world and start leveraging some of the enterprise technologies,” he says.

Web 2.0 applications are designed to be light and easy to build quickly, using prefabricated lines of code to add common features, such as drag and drop. But enterprise software code is dense and full of commands and protocols to ensure reliability, identity and security.

For enterprises to embrace Web 2.0-like applications with confidence requires development of what Brewin calls“a medium-weight service model,” a combination of the heavyweight coding enterprises require and the lightweight coding for client-facing applications.

Creating Web applications using Ajax or other development tools is risky because developers rely on the framework to provide code sections without knowing exactly what’s in them, said IBM’s Allan.

“The developer has lost that control because he’s leaving it in the hands of the framework,” Allan says.

Still, enterprises shouldn’t be discouraged by Web 2.0 security risks because while they may be“scary,” they can be overcome, he says.“I am a proponent of Ajax and Web 2.0. Remember that an enterprise’s purpose is to make money and to provide a rich, usable interface. The more interactive you can make that for people, the more business you’re going to make.”