Open source app servers readied for Java

Three open source application servers are expected to be certified J2EE-compatible by year’s end, meaning that lower-cost alternatives to commercial products from BEA Systems, IBM, and Oracle are on the horizon.

Testing against Sun Microsystems’ enterprise Java standard, J2EE 1.4, has already begun for both Geronimo, a project of the Apache Software Foundation, and Jonas, overseen by Europe’s ObjectWeb consortium. Apache hopes Geronimo will be certified J2EE-compliant by August. ObjectWeb is aiming for later in the year.

JBoss, whose application server is already widely used, has been cagey about when it expects to complete Sun’s tests, but it is likely to announce certification as early as next month, according to John Rymer, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Although Geronimo is still under development, all three application servers aim to provide businesses with a low-cost alternative to established commercial products. At the very least, customers should be able to use the open source application servers as leverage for better pricing from primary vendors, Rymer said.

“Open source application servers are a bona fide competitive force in the market for J2EE application servers,” Rymer wrote in a research note published last month.

J2EE certification is not a prerequisite for enterprise use, as JBoss has shown. But it can lend credibility, particularly in the eyes of IT executives still skittish about open source. It also ensures a level of interoperability between products from different suppliers.

The surge in open source Java projects has by no means been coincidental. Last year, Sun altered the licensing terms for its test suites, allowing open source software to earn certification for the first time. The company also provided free licenses for nonprofit groups such as the Apache Software Foundation and ObjectWeb.

Despite this, analysts do not see customers deserting commercial application servers anytime soon. Aside from having existing software investments with commercial vendors, many IT executives remain wary of open source, expressing concerns about support and the long-term viability of software not backed by an established vendor.

Products from vendors such as BEA also tend to be more mature and come equipped with related offerings such as tools, portals, and integration software, said Shawn Willett, principal analyst at Current Analysis.

Organizations most receptive to using open source application servers tend to be those that employ skilled Java programmers and control their own Web architectures, Forrester’s Rymer said. Some organizations choose a vendor and then follow the direction that vendor gives them, whereas others decide on their Web architecture and then “map the appropriate products onto it,” he said.

“Those people tend to love open source because the products are so narrowly defined. They’re really components, whereas if you bring in a [BEA] WebLogic or [IBM] WebSphere application server, you get a lot of extra stuff that you may or may not want,” Rymer said.

Whatever the outcome, organizations should be able to use the open source offerings to push for better pricing deals, according to Rymer.

“At the end of the day, it keeps the pressure on price, and that may be the biggest impact that BEA and IBM see,” Rymer said.