IBM, Novell bundle Java, server technology

IBM has spent a lot of time using Java technology to integrate its software and hardware products, and now it's helping other companies take advantage of the programming language.

Novell today announced plans to bundle its NetWare operating system with IBM's WebSphere application server and associated Java programming tools, as previously reported.

Executives said the two companies' related strategies led to the technology licensing. The application server--which features support for Enterprise JavaBeans--makes it easier to build software on NetWare and could attract more developers who would otherwise choose Microsoft Windows, Novell executives said.

John Slitz, Novell's senior vice president of global marketing, said the collaboration with IBM could reap "a whole new class of application development."

Paraic Sweeney, vice president for WebSphere marketing at IBM, said the deal fits with Big Blue's goal of creating software for multiple types of systems and is made easier through the use of the Java programming language--a key component of WebSphere.

"This is the core of our business," Sweeney said. "Java is the modernization of a lot of these technologies."