JBoss Unveils Java App Server UpgradeJBoss Unveils Java App Server Upgrade

JBoss, a unit of Red Hat, unveiled an upgrade of its Java application server on Monday that includes enhancements to its clustering and messaging platform services, and better support for Web services.

The company previewed the JBoss Application Server 5.0 Monday at the JBoss World user conference in Berlin. JBoss designed the improvements to the open-source platform to provide better support for rich-client applications and components found within service-oriented architectures.

Core technologies include support for Web services that comply with the Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition. JBoss Web services are compatible with the Microsoft .Net platform.

The clustering capabilities with JBoss have been rearchitected to better conserve memory and resources, while improving overall scalability and performance, company officials said. The JBossMQ service has been changed to JBoss Messaging, which is a compatible JMS 1.1 implementation. The enhanced service improves such features as distributed destinations, in-memory replication of messages, and client failover.

Finally, the upgrade includes new features to the JBoss component programming model and framework, including data-oriented application wrappers for entity beans, technology to reduce database roundtrips, and a new concurrency model for Ajax-based applications.

The new technologies are available for JBoss Application Server 4.0.5, which is available for download over the Web. JBoss Application Server 5.0 is scheduled to be released in beta in December. The final version, which is expected to be compliant with Java 2 Enterprise Edition 5.0, is scheduled to ship in the first half of next year.

JBoss also introduced at the user conference an enterprise service bus for SOAs. JBoss ESB, a new component of the company's Enterprise Middleware Suite, acts as a message broker, providing such services as message transport, a rules engine, and a formatting engine.