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BEA WebLogic Platform ISV Edition bundles WebLogic Server--one of the most popular server applications for hosting and delivering Web applications--with development and portal tools, integration helpers and other infrastructure software.
The toolkit is intended to help independent software vendors (ISVs) working with BEA Server get their applications up and running more quickly and cheaply, said Bobby Napiltonia, general manager of worldwide channels at BEA.
"The packaged software ISVs have long expressed a need for well-packaged middleware," Napiltonia said. "They want to focus on their solution instead of the infrastructure."
The bundle combines WebLogic Server with Workshop, a set of Java developer tools; JRockit, a Java Virtual Machine application to allow interoperability with non-Java applications; WebLogic Portal, a set of tools for creating portal sites that serve as application interfaces; and WebLogic Integration, administration tools for integrating BEA applications with existing infrastructure.
BEA competes with Oracle, IBM and others in the market for Java application servers, while Microsoft continues to push its .Net framework for Web services.
Software makers that have announced initial plans to use the BEA package include Hewlett-Packard and storage specialists Veritas Software and EMC.
Such partners appreciate the efficiency of taking an integrated approach to Web applications, which enables them to get to market more quickly while focusing on core business issues rather than on plumbing priblems, said Robert Flannigan, technology strategist at BEA.
"We're allowing our partners to focus their R&D on the actual business domains they serve and freeing them from dealing with the infrastructure," Flannigan said. "There's real demand in the market for a well-integrated infrastructure from a single vendor that stands behind the whole stack."
