IBM Announces Enterprise-level WebSphere
IBM has raised the scale of its WebSphere Application Server software solution with the announcement of an enterprise edition. Following earlier releases of the product that targeted smaller businesses, WebSphere Application Server V3.0 Enterprise Edition is designed to link transaction processing tools and will target large companies, including banks, brokerage houses and insurance firms.
Scheduled for availability in late September, IBM WebSphere Application Server V3.0 Enterprise Edition will enhance WebSphere Advanced Edition to offer a solution that grows e-business applications into high-volume transaction environments. Enterprise Edition is expected to combine TXSeries, IBM's transaction application environment, with the distributed object and business process integration capabilities of Component Broker.
As with the Advanced Edition, Enterprise Edition will feature the following: an IBM HTTP server with additional Secure Sockets Layer-based security and performance; support for Lotus Domino R5; Tivoli-ready modules; enhanced administration with an improved interface for application deployment and server administration; XML Document Structure Services; CORBA support, enhanced to provide both bean-managed and container-managed persistence; and Enterprise JavaBeans Server, providing relational database transaction management and monitoring based on Enterprise JavaBeans and CORBA components.
IBM created WebSphere to help its customers develop and manage high-performance Web sites, as well as to ease the transition from simple Web publishing to advanced e-business Web applications.
In addition to the main Application Server component, the WebSphere family is comprised of the following: WebSphere Performance Pack for Multiplatforms V2.0, for integrating load balancing, page caching and file replication; Performance Pack Cache Manager for Multiplatforms V2.0, an entry-level, proxy caching solution for smaller customer locations (10 to 50 user installations) running on Linux and Windows NT; and WebSphere Studio V3.0, which features site design and Java development tools.
--L. Greenemeier