IBM builds up business apps
The company unveils two new Java-based building blocks for creating server-based business applications, part of the second release of its San Francisco project.
The new components, part of the second release of IBM's San Francisco project, are designed as reusable components that have been tested and can be plugged into a broader application.
The new components, due by June with the second release of San Francisco, can be used in order-processing and warehouse-inventory management applications. IBM released a component for general ledger applications in August, and the company expects to begin beta testing accounts payable and accounts receivable components in June.
IBM also indicated that it will build a migration path for San Francisco project customers that want to move to Enterprise JavaBeans, which also work on the server side.
In addition, two software tools vendors, Visient and Select Software Tools, announced tools that support the San Francisco project.
IBM calls its San Francisco project the largest server-side Java initiative in the industry, with 500,000 lines of code to be delivered in the second release. A report from industry consultants Patricia Seybold Group estimates the San Francisco project has accelerated by 12 to 18 months the deployment of server-side Java applications.
JavaSoft said today that applications built with San Francisco project technology will be certified as "100 percent pure Java" for 1998 without paying the normal fee.
In its second release, due by June, San Francisco project components will be available not only in English, but also French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Today the San Francisco components run on IBM's OS/400 mid-range machines and AIX Unix platforms as well as Windows NT. Later this year, San Francisco components also will be available for two other flavors of Unix, HP-UX and Sun Solaris.
IBM also said it is expanding the number of San Francisco Technology Centers, staffed by specialists in San Francisco application development, by opening new locations in Austin, Tokyo, and La Hulpe, Belgium. The centers are open to companies that license code from IBM.