BEA Systems, Inc. opened its annual user group event in Santa Clara, CA with a flurry of announcements. High on the agenda was an update on WebLogic Server, which the company said "goes above and beyond offering basic Web Services. Unlike competing software, WebLogic Server includes an enterprise-grade kernel that is designed to dramatically reduce downtime, provide support for multiple programming models and offer enhanced administration and management capabilities," the company said as BEA World began.

WebLogic Server, coupled with BEA AquaLogic Service Bus, is designed to provide the necessary components for a true enterprise-wide Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). “BEA WebLogic Server proved in the PushToTest SOA Performance and Knowledge Kit that it can be mission-critical to helping enable SOA architects to build services quickly while integrating with existing systems to leverage legacy infrastructure investments,” said Peter Cooper-Ellis, general manager, WebLogic Server, BEA Systems, Inc. “Our blended framework approach and J2EE application server environment are a testament to application servers becoming the core enterprise engine. The majority of enterprises use one or more open source frameworks and up to 28 percent use more than one type of application server within their development environments. Not all application servers are created equal and customers should demand more from their core enterprise engine.”

Developers can choose their preferred development framework with the multi-programming model support in WebLogic Server, which is also designed to manage clusters of Tomcat and Geronimo servers. This freedom to mix and match the best components and deployment platforms can help developers increase productivity and realize cost savings. The result is greater efficiency in aligning closer to business needs for real-time response more effectively and in a profitable way. For more information about WebLogic or to download a copy today, visit http://www.bea.com/wls.

At the core of WebLogic Server is the enterprise-kernel, which is designed so that let architects and developers can deploy and update an application while it is still running, for zero down time. It is designed to provide load balancing, caching, server migration and failover within and across clusters; an entire WebLogic cluster of servers can failover to another cluster, regardless of whether this occurs across town or on the other side of the world. WebLogic Server can help build new servers and extend existing applications for SOA by leveraging an extensible framework for tight integration of third-party management tools and standards-based scripting tools enable the automation of tasks.

The WebLogic Communications Platform is also the backbone of telephony and network providers, helping enable them to roll out new data and web services such as VoIP, integrated fixed and wireless services, multi-player gaming and conferencing applications without network degradation. A recent benchmark test running WebLogic SIP Server (WLSS) on Intel hardware demonstrated a breakthrough in performance: the industry standard message latency suggests that the time to process a message should not exceed 200 ms and WLSS was able to do it in less than 40 ms with bandwidth to spare.

With WebLogic Server’s ability to plug into SOA and support the AquaLogic product family, was also touted by the company, which said that developers can now use all the new Web Services features of J2EE 1.4 and others, helping them to create the critical building blocks that enterprises will leverage for years to come.

The full range of BEA announcements can be found at www.bea.com.