AS THEIR RESPECTIVE technology engines hurtle on a collision course, application server vendors and EAI companies are turning up the volume in the debate over whose approach works best for connecting disparate IT systems and new applications.

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On Monday, Iona will jump deeper into the fray with plans to roll out a new version of its application server platform, Orbix E2A ASP 6.0, which features a host of services to help developers create application harmony across diverse middleware and messaging technologies within their enterprise. At the EAI end of the spectrum, webMethods at its Integration World conference this week opted to fight fire with fire, detailing plans to bundle open-source JBoss application server into webMethods 6, a newly revved version of its flagship integration platform.

Iona's ultimate goal with ASP 6.0, according to director of product marketing Don Roedner, is to prime enterprise software assets for integration within a services-oriented architecture. Among its new features is greater support for Web services-enabling existing applications and components.

"You can think of [ASP 6.0] as a way to build the building blocks for integrated systems and services," said Roedner, based in Iona's Boston office. "It is about making it easier to combine things and let multitechnology systems be deployed with specific qualities of service."

New features in ASP 6.0 include a Security Service that provides a single-point of integration for the mix of enterprise application security functions -- such as authentication and authorization -- that are in play across CORBA, J2EE, Web services, and mainframe systems. The service also allows CORBA and J2EE messages to cross firewalls securely when, for example, a Web service request is triggered externally. The capability is expected to banish the need to hard code every transaction step directly into the application, Roedner said.

ASP 6.0 also provides a transparent bridge for applications running on JMS and CORBA Notification messaging. And finally, the platform now sports a single point for managing, installing, configuring, and tuning the multitude of transactions and objects throughout a mixed enterprise environment, which gives users greater "visibility" into their applications, said Roedner.

One industry analyst said Iona's ASP 6.0 nods heavily in the direction of their large installed base of CORBA users.

"Iona might have been taking their CORBA base a bit for granted with their Java initiatives, Web services and integration products, but [ASP 6.0] looks to be a way for them to generate more revenue from that installed base now, while also bringing them more up to date with Web services and J2EE," said Shawn Willett, principal analyst for Sterling, Va.-based Current Analysis.

Their CORBA heritage also enables Iona to differentiate itself from other J2EE app server vendors such as IBM, BEA, and Sun, Willett added.

Meanwhile, with JBoss, webMethods is enabling J2EE-based components to run directly in the integration server, as opposed to having to call out to an app server as required with earlier versions of webMethods platform. This unification will serve to boost overall performance of webMethods 6 while also allowing developers to write both integration code and application logic from within a single environment, according to webMethods CTO Jim Green.

webMethods' bundling of JBoss, which it plans to fully absorb into webMethods 6 next year, is meant to hammer home its notion that that integration platform should serve as the core element of the infrastructure, feeding all other layers in the enterprise stack, according to CTO Green. That position runs counter to that of players such as BEA, who believe development via the app server come first, serving as the foundation on which the integration capabilities are then added.

The Iona and webMethods moves only underscore the vendor line-blurring across the integration market, in part brought on by hungry app server vendors such as BEA Systems that are eager to exploit their commodity platforms as a way to provide conventional middleware capabilities. Also at work is the growing acceptance of Web services, which are expected to alter how integration is done by stripping away some technical complexity, requirements around specialization, and cost.

The application-server-vs.-EAI approach to integration marks the latest industry "holy war," said one analyst, who called the debate analogous to the tussle of words over J2EE and Microsoft's .Net as the dominant development environment for a services-oriented architecture.

"The big J2EE application server vendors are betting on getting more converts by going down the road of integration," said Eric Austvold, industry analyst at AMR Research in Boston. But these and similar efforts by traditional EAI vendors will face steep competition from the likes of Microsoft, who is leveraging XML and a lower-cost integration environment in BizTalk Server to creep into the market, he said.

Iona's ASP 6.0 will be generally available in 45 days in three editions: J2EE Technology, Standard, and Enterprise Edition. It is priced starting at $495 per developer license and $5,000 per CPU deployment, officials said.

webMethods 6 is available with current versions using an adapter to make the connection to JBoss. A subsequent point release in early 2003 will integrate the app server directly into the integration platform, officials said.