BEA, Sun advance Java app servers

BEA systems and Sun Microsystems advanced their Java application servers last week, while Oracle pushed its Java development environment for grid enablement.

BEA offered customers a path to utility computing through a partnership with Veritas Software, and Sun released a low-end version of its application server that supports the latest enterprise Java standard.

BEA inked a deal to make its WebLogic application server work better with three Veritas products. Those products include Veritas OpForce, for automatically provisioning servers; Veritas Indepth, for managing the performance of applications; and Veritas Cluster Server, for linking servers in a group.

“Our products have always supported BEA, but it’s been done in a way that you’d find support for a lot of other applications,” said Arya Barirani, director of solutions marketing at Veritas. “Now the organizations are working together more tightly on the engineering front so that support will be deeper and a lot more customized.”

Veritas and BEA position themselves as neutral vendors whose products work with a range of hardware and software. Their joint offering is probably more open than most, meaning it should work better in a heterogeneous environment with a mix of servers, operating systems, and applications, said William Hurley, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group.

In contrast, utility software from IBM and Oracle tend to work better with their own products, Hurley said.

Sun last week released Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8, an upgrade to its application server that supports Version 1.4 of the J2EE specification, along with a corresponding software development kit. Platform Edition is a low-end version of Sun’s Java software geared mainly toward pilot projects and departmental applications, said Dennis MacNeil, senior product marketing manager at Sun.

Among the most significant advances in Version 1.4 is support for the Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) group’s Basic Profile, which tells vendors how to implement the main Web services standards in order to interoperate with other vendors’ products.

The WS-I includes large software makers such as Microsoft, IBM, Sun, and BEA, as well as some large customers. J2EE 1.4 also builds in support for several other Web services, making it easier for developers to link different types of software applications.

Also last week, Oracle shipped JDeveloper 10g, a version of its Java and Web services development environment that the company says features grid enablement and support for SOA (service-oriented architecture) methodologies.

Also included in JDeveloper 10g are Oracle ADF (Application Development Framework), which is a productivity layer intended to simplify development and compliance with the WS-I’s Basic Profile 1.0 document for building interoperable Web services, according to Oracle.