The app services technology is intended to boost speed and management of the Web and other programs Microsoft is offering on Monday a second beta release of its Windows Server AppFabric technology, which features services intended to improve speed, scale and management of Web, composite and enterprise applications.The beta is available at Microsoft’s Web site. Windows Server AppFabric makes it easier to build and manage Web and composite applications running on the Windows IIS (Internet Information Services) Web server, according to Microsoft. The technology has benefitted early users by providing increased performance, simplified development and management, and improved availability and reliability for “demanding” applications, Microsoft said.[ Last week, InfoWorld’s Paul Krill reported on Microsoft’s priorities for application development technologies. ] AppFabric combines the former Dublin and Velocity technologies for hosting and caching with the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus and AppFabric Access Control, which had been known as .Net Services. AppFabric also is featured as part of the Windows Azure cloud platform.Windows Server AppFabric features distributed in-memory caching and replication, working with ASP.Net applications. It also offers pre-built applications and can be used with Visual Studio tools and the .Net Framework.The general release of AppFabric is expected by the third quarter of this year. Windows Server AppFabric was announced at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles in November. This story, “Microsoft offers second beta of Windows Server AppFabric,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in software development at InfoWorld.com. Development ToolsCloud ComputingSoftware DevelopmentTechnology Industry