Borland goes all out for Java

Java development specialist Borland has launched its Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform in an attempt to simplify Java implementation and drive wider adoption of Java technologies.

It has also integrated its development tools into the platform.

The components consist of Borland Enterprise Studio for Java 3, JBuilder 6 in three new editions, and Enterprise Server with Web, VisiBroker and AppServer editions, giving customers access to Borland's range of application server products.

Shipments are due to begin at the end of November.

John Harrison, senior technical consultant at Borland, said: "Between them they give you everything from modelling, to an IDE [integrated development environment], to deployment."

Enterprise Studio for Java [version] 3 bundles together Rational Rose professional modeller, JBuilder 6 and a developer licence for Enterprise Server.

JBuilder 6 also allows development to competitive enterprise application integration (EAI) platforms, such as BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere and Sun iPlanet.

Borland expects Enterprise Server AppServer edition to be the first to become J2EE 1.3 compliant. Version 1.3 includes support for enterprise Java beans (EJB) 2.0 that includes message beans for interoperability with other message platforms, and a requirement to use IIOP [Internet Inter-Orb Protocol] as its underlying protocol to ease interoperability.

"Borland has the right idea in bundling development elements into one product," said Bola Rotibi, lead analyst at Ovum.

"My key concern would be how well the components fit together. Modelling integration wasn't good before, so I trust that has been improved," Rotibi said.

Borland's Harrison said that JBuilder 6 provides true interactive two-way tools in a graphical way. "There has been a lot of work in UML [universal modelling language] visualisation, including the generation of class and package diagrams, without using the modelling tools," he said.

According to analyst firm Meta Group, enterprise Java beans (EJBs) will become the standard development and deployment method for complex enterprise applications, rising rapidly from the current 10 per cent to 40 per cent usage by 2003.

In a separate announcement, Borland has released JBuilder MobileSet 1.03 support for the Java 2 Mobile Edition (J2ME) Wireless Toolkit 1.0.3, as part of its strategy to provide a complete cross-platform wireless development environment.

This means that JBuilder can target J2EE or J2ME with just a few setting changes.

Ovum's Rotibi said that existing Java developers would be most likely to develop mobile applications, and using a similar IDE would encourage them to work on J2ME.

Sun Microsystems has adopted the Borland product as its new mobile emulation environment, and said that Borland's support for its toolkit would speed and simplify development of industry standard J2ME applications.

Borland already supports development using the Nokia and Siemens mobile environments.

Research from the Gartner Group indicates that IT-centric applications for mobile phones will be built predominantly using J2ME.