JBuilder digs deeper into BEA's WebLogic

By Alun Williams

Posted on 16 Aug 2002 at 13:10

Borland tightly integrates - in a Java fashion - with middleware specialists BEA.

Borland is to produce a specific 'WebLogic Edition' of its Java programming system, JBuilder. It will give Java developers, building front-end systems, better access to the enterprise-scale middleware provided by BEA's Application Server.

Such middleware, for example, might co-ordinate the retrieval of data from multiple databases as part of a larger application. Essentially, transaction management is presented back to a user front-end.

VP and General Manager of Borland UK, Nigel Brown, said that Borland was keen to develop products in line with a billion dollar corporation such as BEA. Its target is for every WebLogic customer to use JBuilder, and Brown described the move as 'the tighter integration between the number one products in their fields'.

The default JBuilder system works with a variety of application servers - BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, and Sun's iPlanet as well as Borland's own offering, Borland Enterprise. The new JBuilder WebLogic Edition, while losing this variety of options, will tighten links to BEA's system. Specifically, it will provide direct access to the WebLogic Workshop, enabling greater control over the middleware's operation.

The J2EE-conformant system will be available in September, with provisional pricing at around the £2,800 mark (basically, 70 per cent off the combined cost of the separate products).

The Java collaboration is part of a wider agreement between the two companies to work jointly on sales and marketing efforts.

Borland has also announced that version 5.1 of its application server product, Borland Enterprise, is now shipping. Improved Web Services providers are its main new feature.

Java briefing