At its fourth annual BEA Users Conference, BEA Systems, Inc., the market leader in distributed middleware, have announced it will deliver a unified CORBA and Java enterprise application server offering to provide customers with a single standards-based solution to build, deploy, integrate, and manage component-based applications.
The product, to be called BEA WebLogic Enterprise, will meld together BEA WebLogic, one of the industry`s most advanced Web application servers, with BEA M3O, the industry`s first generally available, production-ready object transaction manager (OTM). The new BEA WebLogic Enterprise product will be designed to provide customers with the advanced Java development services, ease of Web integration, and rapid time-to-market of a Web application server; the investment protection and tools support of CORBA and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB); and the same type of reliability, performance, scalability, and manageability found in BEA M3.
"Since we opened our doors, BEA`s vision has been to deliver a uniquely comprehensive and integrated arsenal of technology solutions that together provide an application platform for the networked enterprise," said Bill Coleman, chairman and CEO of BEA. "BEA WebLogic Enterprise is the next crucial step toward this goal.
"The mission-critical characteristics of BEA`s middleware are fundamental to BEA WebLogic Enterprise, including transaction processing, mainframe integration, guaranteed message delivery, fault tolerance, security, scalability to hundreds of thousands of users and thousands of transactions per second," said Coleman. "But also fundamental to BEA WebLogic Enterprise are the sexy new technologies transforming information services: Web integration and e-commerce, component assembly and rapid application development, network-enabled business objects, and Java."
The goal of BEA WebLogic Enterprise is to enable customers to quickly build reliable, flexible, component-based applications that can reach from Web and other desktops to NT, UNIX, and mainframe servers, while providing support for CORBA and Enterprise Java, the two key enterprise application server standards. BEA WebLogic Enterprise is designed to help achieve the goals of component-based development for large-scale, network-ready applications and to help customers build those applications faster and more cost effectively, with maximum flexibility to address changing business needs. Many industry experts believe component-based applications will have a large role in the future of application development because they enable developers to use pre-programmed components to handle the basic application functions so that developers can focus on bringing added value and a competitive edge to their applications.
"Customers are asking for the benefits of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) and the benefits of CORBA to work together in their enterprise applications," said Sally Cusack, analyst with IDC, a Framingham, Mass.-based industry consulting firm. "BEA WebLogic Enterprise will address customer requests to bring these technologies together in a single solution."
"Java and CORBA are coming together," said Alfred Chuang, president of WebXpress, a BEA company. "BEA is unifying our enterprise application server offerings to give our customers the combined power of all of these technologies for developing and deploying mission-critical, component-based applications.
The New BEA WebLogic Product Family
BEA WebLogic Enterprise, with the capabilities of both BEA WebLogic and BEA M3, will be the flagship product in BEA`s expanded suite of WebLogic component middleware products for running mission-critical, Web-enabled applications. This expanded offering includes a full suite of application server solutions that can be used individually or together by companies of varying sizes.
BEA WebLogic Enterprise: Customers that require a highly scalable, highly available, Enterprise Java-standard, enterprise application server with support for CORBA and mainframe interoperability can choose BEA WebLogic Enterprise. The goal of BEA WebLogic Enterprise is to enable information technology managers to incorporate Web-based applications with their existing enterprise applications and their legacy systems into a unified system without sacrificing existing or future investments. BEA WebLogic Enterprise can assist large enterprises looking to unify their Web- and Java-based applications with existing desktop applications, enterprise data, and legacy systems.
BEA WebLogic Enterprise will be powered by the same core engine that powers BEA TUXEDO and BEA M3, while supporting the application programming interfaces of Enterprise Java (including EJB), CORBA, and BEA TUXEDO. As a result, applications built using BEA WebLogic Server, BEA M3, or BEA TUXEDO will run unchanged under BEA WebLogic Enterprise. This automatic upward compatibility means customers can start developing and deploying on any of BEA`s middleware platforms today and be able to run on BEA WebLogic Enterprise in the future.
BEA WebLogic Server (formerly known as Tengah) is BEA`s flagship Web application server. The BEA WebLogic Server is for customers requiring a scalable, Enterprise Java-standard application server. The BEA WebLogic Server extends BEA WebLogic Express with support for building Java applications that are interconnected across a network. The BEA WebLogic Server was the first Web application server to provide EJB components, Java messaging and event services, Microsoft COM integration, and a zero administration client. Customers like Bear-Stearns, Covad Communications, First USA, PriceLine.com, Qwest Communications, and Sapient Health Network are using this award-winning Web application server today to deliver information services to thousands of users.
BEA WebLogic Express (formerly known as Tengah/JDBC) is available for customers needing an entry-level Web application server. With BEA WebLogic Express, users can generate dynamic Web pages that incorporate database query results. Web presentation logic is defined with Enterprise Java-standard Servlets and Java Server Pages, while relational data is accessed through BEA`s industry-leading Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) solutions. BEA WebLogic Express supports HTML and Java clients.
The BEA TUXEDO product, the marketshare-leading distributed transactional middleware, maintains its focus on distributed transaction processing, running applications from some of the world`s largest enterprises, including AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Chase Manhattan Bank, Deutsche Telekom, FedEx, Hongkong International Terminals, and United Airlines. New solutions packages using BEA TUXEDO as their core technology are planned for release in 1999.
Product Availability
BEA WebLogic Express, BEA WebLogic Server, and BEA WebLogic Enterprise version 4.0 are available today. BEA WebLogic Express and BEA WebLogic Server support the Java language and the Enterprise Java APIs (including EJB). BEA WebLogic Enterprise 4.0 supports CORBA for both C++ and Java, and the BEA TUXEDO API. BEA plans to release BEA WebLogic Enterprise Version 4.1, a unified offering that provides interoperability between EJB- and CORBA-based applications, within 90 days. In late 1999, BEA plans to release BEA WebLogic Enterprise Version 5.0, a merged product, which supports the Java language, the Java Enterprise APIs (including EJB), CORBA for both C++ and Java, and the BEA TUXEDO API.
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BEA Systems
BEA Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of cross-platform middleware solutions for enterprise applications. BEA`s products and services enable mission-critical, distributed applications to work seamlessly in client/server, Internet, and legacy environments. BEA provides transactional, messaging, and distributed object-based software, as well as an industry-leading Java Web application server, for developing and deploying these enterprise applications. The BEA WebLogic application server, developed and supported by BEA`s WebXpress division, offers the critical front-end Web component to BEA`s end-to-end enterprise middleware solution.
In addition to its broad software product line, BEA provides complete solutions to its customers through its extensive partner network, and a full range of services including consulting, education, and support. BEA is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and has 50 offices in 24 countries around the globe. The company`s common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "BEAS." Additional information on BEA is available on the Internet at http://www.beasys.com.
BEA, TUXEDO, and WebLogic are registered trademarks of BEA Systems, Inc. BEA M3, BEA WebLogic Express, BEA WebLogic Server, and BEA WebLogic Enterprise are trademarks of BEA Systems, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding: plans to deliver a unified CORBA and Java enterprise application server product, BEA WebLogic Enterprise, and future versions thereof; the functionality of BEA WebLogic Enterprise products; BEA`s vision to deliver comprehensive and integrated solutions to provide an application platform for the networked enterprise; the role of component-based applications in the future of application development; Java and CORBA coming together; releases of BEA TUXEDO products in 1999; the release of BEA WebLogic Enterprise Version 4.1 within 90 days of this release and the release of BEA WebLogic Enterprise Version 5.0 in late 1999. It is important to note that actual outcomes and BEA`s actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as unforeseen technical difficulties in developing BEA WebLogic Enterprise products including incompatibilities between BEA WebLogic, BEA TUXEDO and BEA M3, which could among other things, delay product releases and impede the planned functionalities of BEA WebLogic Enterprise; slow adoption of component-based technologies due to efficiency and flexibility limitations of such technologies; the failure of or delay in an industry wide adoption of a complete or coherent standard uniting Java and CORBA; unforeseen incompatibilities between BEA products and current or future third-party software solutions and the failure for a sufficient market to develop for funtionalities to be provided by planned releases of BEA WebLogic Enterprise or BEA TUXEDO products.
Readers should also refer to the risk disclosures outlined in BEA`s annual report of Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year 1998 and BEA`s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed from time-to-time with the SEC.
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