IBM Launches Innovative WebSphere Update

The latest version of IBM's Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application sever introduces a cleaner architecture that separates software libraries into groups, linked via metadata for easier access and integration.

WebSphere Application Server Version 6 is the first application server - a layer of standardised ‘middleware' above the operating system on which other software programs run, to deliver this type of simultaneous detection and recovery capability together.

IBM is positioning WebSphere Application Server 6.0 as a secure platform for Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs).

Also featured is management software from IBM's Tivoli range, providing server management and deployment capabilities integrated through a management console.

IBM director of WebSphere infrastructure software Bob Sutor told ComputerWire these capabilities lay the framework for more extensive componentization in later editions of WebSphere Application Server.

IBM today announced new software designed to help safeguard Internet business applications against outages that can cost companies as much as US$110,000 per minute in lost revenue and productivity.

This capability is one of many new advances in the latest version of IBM WebSphere Application Server, the market-leading Internet infrastructure software, that are meant to help companies efficiently build flexible, standards-based IT infrastructures that allow them to respond quickly to new market conditions and opportunities.

Version 6 of WebSphere Application Server is designed to automatically detect problems, from small network glitches to power failures or natural disasters. This can in a matter of seconds save and process Web-based business transactions that could take hours or days to recover under older systems.

WebSphere Application Server 6.0 also introduces features to help speed-up and simplify the process of building and deploying J2EE applications, with increased automation.

Additionally, a series of new and updated wizards feature in the re-named WebSphere Studio Site Developer and WebSphere Studio Application Developer to reduce the number of steps taken in building web-side and server-side Java applications.

Previously, companies have relied on manual processes or have had to spend time and resources linking disparate, unintegrated software packages to protect and recover data.

The financial impact of IT system downtime per hour varies by industry but losses can quickly exceed millions of dollars per hour.

IBM's primary competitors in the Java application servers are BEA Systems, which is trying to stabilize itself after two disappointing quarters and the departure of several executives, and Oracle, which analysts say is seeing growth in its market share.