For developers, Oracle's Fusion Middleware 11g rollout on Wednesday emphasizes Java technologies, particularly the company's JDeveloper IDE, along with concepts, including declarative programming and ALM (application lifecycle management).
Oracle's emphasis on Java should come as further relief to Java developers, with Oracle already in the process of buying Java founder Sun Microsystems and offering reassurance to these developers at the recent JavaOne conference. The Fusion announcement featured a multifaceted suite of technologies for business IT needs, ranging from SOA deployments to cloud computing, business process transformation, and IT governance.
[ Earlier today, Oracle launched its Fusion Middleware 11g. ]
JDeveloper, Oracle said in one of its statements on the rollout, lets developers build applications and services across application servers; Oracle's WebLogic Java application server acquired from BEA Systems is a key part of the company's middleware line. Developers also can leverage the open source Eclipse IDE through Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, Oracle said.
"In the developer tools space, I think we're really excited with what we've done," said Ted Farrell, chief architect and senior vice president of tools and middleware at Oracle. The unveiling gets Oracle fully into the ALM space and desktop integration, he said.
As part of Wednesday's announcement, Oracle is offering an upgrade to JDeveloper, identified as version 11.1.1.1, as well an ALM technology called Team Productivity Center. "Its goal is to bring teams together inside the IDE," Farrell said.
The ALM software lets teams track bugs together and share code, he said. "You can chat with each other right from inside the IDE," said Farrell. Developers can work with third-party technologies such as the Subversion version controly systems.
All Fusion middleware products plug into JDeveloper. Asked what Oracle's emphasis on JDeveloper and Eclipse means for the Sun-dominated NetBeans IDE, Farrell said he could not comment on what Oracle might do with it. But he did call NetBeans "a viable IDE in the market today."
Oracle is leveraging its ADF (Application Development Framework) and ADF Faces, Farrell said. "Basically, what we're saying is we're trying to abstract our users building enterprise applications and Web applications from the underlying view technologies, which are constantly changing," Farrell said.
While Microsoft tells developers to build using Silverlight, Adobe stresses Flex development, and others hail "Open Web" technologies, such as JavaScript and DHTML, Oracle emphasizes abstraction, leveraging JavaServer Faces (JSF) as a component model, said Farrell. JSF is geared toward a traditional Model View Controller architecture, he said.
Google's framework is most similar to Oracle, using Java as its native language, said Farrell. With JSF, Oracle is going "the declarative route," providing an abstraction layer, he said.
Observers offered varying perspectives on Oracle's moves, with one analyst making a comparison to Microsoft's Oslo software modeling platform.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
23 Recommendations
