NetBeans ready for enterprise apps, says Sun

The next version of the NetBeans open source integrated development environment (IDE) will be able to develop full Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) applications, including support for Enterprise JavaBeans technology and web services, Sun has revealed.

Version 4.0 of the open source IDE is due to be in beta by the end of July, the company told its JavaOne Developer Conference in San Francisco.

The announcement formed part of the inaugural NetBeans Software Day, a coming together of NetBeans developers and users.

Sun has donated some 350,000 lines of code - which it values at $14m - to achieve the enhancements to NetBeans. Most of the code comes from its commercially available Sun Java Studio Standard IDE.

Also included is a new Java performance profiler, which uses technology developed at Sun Labs. This will allow developers easy access to CPU and memory usage data.

"Performance profiling tools are a critical piece for the overall development process for large Java applications," said Steve Wilson, Sun's engineering director for NetBeans.

"By making a set of state-of-the-art performance tools available at zero cost, deeply integrated into the IDE, we will allow thousands of developers to take full advantage of the Java platform."

Sun hopes these additions will move NetBeans away from being perceived as a Java tools development IDE to an environment for full enterprise application development.

It may also be aimed at building more developer backing for NetBeans, which has long been competing head-to-head with the IBM-sponsored Eclipse open source IDE.

But James Governor, principal analyst with RedMonk, remained unconvinced. "There is huge momentum behind the Eclipse programme and Sun really needs to get into it," he said.

"How is it going to persuade users to replace their existing SAP [Eclipse] frameworks with NetBeans?"