BEA has introduced two low-cost versions of its WebLogic Java 2 enterprise edition (J2EE) application server to attract smaller businesses and departmental workgroups.

WebLogic Express is an entry-level, pared down version of BEA's flagship WebLogic Server, suited to building lightweight applications not needing a full J2EE implementation.

Primarily it is missing enterprise Java beans (EJB) and Java messaging service (JMS) software.

WebLogic Server, Workgroup Edition provides full J2EE functionality for a lower price. It lacks some clustering capabilities and is limited to departments of up to 20 concurrent users.

"There has been a lot of feedback from departmental developers wanting access to WebLogic Server," explained Marko Saarinen, director of product marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Asia at BEA.

"There has also been feedback from centralised IT operations, saying what the departments are asking for. It shows BEA is now much more visible through the whole enterprise."

BEA had been selling to small and medium-sized enterprises already, mostly through the channel rather than directly. But its two new products will be available direct as well, Saarinen said.

WebLogic Express, which has already enjoyed limited deployment, is competing head-on with archrival IBM's recently released WebSphere Express.

Both programs enable users to build and run Java server pages (JSPs) and Java servlets (small server applications) for corporate websites.

European pricing for WebLogic Express is €499 (£330) per processor, while WebLogic Server, Workgroup Edition costs €4840 (£3,195) per server processor.