Borland raises bar for platform interoperability: launches Borland Janeva 6 to support mixed IT environments at reduced risk, cost

Borland Software Corporation today announced Borland Janeva6, the latest version of the company`s platform interoperability technology. Janeva 6 is designed to help organisations reduce the cost and impact of integrating new and existing software investments so that they have the freedom to move into the future without abandoning the past.

As organisations adopt .NET technologies, Janeva 6 offers secure and high performance connectivity between Microsoft .NET Framework-based applications and J2EE and CORBA server-side technologies. Moreover, Janeva 6 now brings certified support for all major J2EE application servers with transaction and security services, including user authorisation and authentication. J2EE and CORBA applications can also utilise new call-back capabilities to `talk back` to .NET Framework-based applications for two-way interoperability.

Since the product`s introduction to the market in May, Janeva has captured the interest of organisations in government as well as high-transaction verticals such as finance and telecommunications that are looking to reduce risk and cost in a mixed IT environment. Because Janeva requires no change to existing back-end systems, it offers an attractive integration option for enterprises that have mission-critical J2EE or CORBA applications already in production. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel), a global communications company, has adopted Janeva as part of its effort to ensure that existing investments in J2EE and CORBA technologies are fully leveraged in new applications and services for the .NET Framework, and vice-versa.

Choo Li Chin, Director (Unix Product Management) with SingTel, commented: "Borland Janeva is the ideal way to connect applications built for the .NET Framework with J2EE and CORBA infrastructures for SingTel. We considered using various options to provide this interoperability but our needs required a tight, fine-grained integration, as well as high-performance, fault-tolerant and secure interoperability. We chose Janeva to deliver this level of interoperability with the desired capabilities for SingTel."

Interoperability solutions on the market today such as Web services and bridging technologies typically rely on evolving or proprietary standards, which can often require extra infrastructure investments or development work on the server side. Janeva is designed to offer a mature and low-impact, complementary alternative based on the proven Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP).

"The recent introduction of bridges by a variety of vendors provides a means of spanning the gap between Microsoft .NET and J2EE. However, these bridges typically require additional hardware and software and can easily become the bottleneck and a single point of failure in a system," commented Rikki Kirzner at analyst firm IDC. "Furthermore, SOAP is still immature and is aimed at providing loose coupling between applications. Although SOAP may grow to support better security and performance, it still will not address the tight, fine-grained integration that is required for many applications."

"One of the biggest challenges customers are facing with Web services is the complexity of implementation in high-transaction environments," commented Boz Elloy, senior vice-president of software products at Borland. "Janeva offers a compelling alternative for projects that require a higher quality of service - security of data, high performance, reliability, fault-tolerance and scalability - at a lower total cost of ownership. The implementation is designed to be seamless, saving time and money from development to deployment."

Janeva works like a plug-in to popular development environments for the Microsoft .NET Framework, such as Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Borland C#Builder for the Microsoft .NET Framework. It translates data types automatically, so that .NET Framework developers require no expertise in J2EE or CORBA technology.

"We are adding a powerful solution to the integrator`s tool box," added Thanh Tran, vice-president and general manager of deployment solutions at Borland. "Janeva and Web services are complementary and can solve a wide range of integration challenges across corporate intranets and the Internet. As more enterprises adopt the Microsoft .NET Framework for new development projects, Janeva should play an even greater role in controlling deployment risk and cost in distributed, heterogeneous IT environments."

Janeva 6 is scheduled for shipment late in the fourth quarter of 2003. Borland certifies Janeva 6 interoperability with BEA WebLogic Server 7.0, BEA WebLogic Server 8.1, Borland Enterprise Server 5.2, IBM WebSphere 5.0, and Oracle9i Application Server.