WebMethods Adds J2EE SupportWebMethods Adds J2EE Support

WebMethods Inc. says a new version of its integration software supports a popular Java language standard for the first time, which could improve system performance. WebMethods 6, available now, will run program logic written according to Java 2 Enterprise Edition, an industry standard, the software vendor said Tuesday at its IntegrationWorld 2002 conference in San Francisco. WebMethods' software lets companies transform and route data between applications written for different computer systems, so that, for example, orders from an E-commerce Web site can be automatically booked in another vendor's customer-relationship management system. As these multistep transactional systems become more complex, involving thousands of transactions per second, the ability to run J2EE objects in the integration software, instead of calling a separate application server, can improve performance, says chief technical officer Jim Green.

"We want to be in the platforms business," Green says. "You need to get all the overhead out between the integration system and the disk." In addition to speeding performance, Green says, bundling the application server with webMethods' integration software can lower operating costs by letting administrators manage both packages from one interface. Enterprise JavaBeans written according to J2EE won't run in the current webMethods release 4.6.

To eliminate calls between servers, webMethods 6 includes its own bundled application server, the JBoss open-source code. Programmers will also be able to write business logic and integration code using one toolset, webMethods' Flow language.

WebMethods' competitors IBM and BEA Systems Inc., leaders in the application server market, are starting to ship their own application integration technology, encroaching on webMethods' market.