Netscape readies PeopleSoft app server

Six weeks after announcing a version of its Application Server for SAP, Netscape Communications will announce next week a version of its Application Server for PeopleSoft applications.

Netscape also posted free tools, PerLDAP for PeopleSoft, for taking user data from PeopleSoft applications and transferring it into a Netscape directory server to use in other Netscape applications.

Designed to help PeopleSoft users build extranets with partners, suppliers, and customers, the new Netscape products will help integrate PeopleSoft enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with Internet applications. But unlike the SAP extensions announced last month, the PeopleSoft offerings do not include integration with Netscape's ECXpert family of e-commerce software.

Netscape Application Server for PeopleSoft includes a PeopleSoft extension to Netscape Application Server, Netscape's Web server, the PerLDAP tools, and Netscape Directory Server. The PeopleSoft extension, not scheduled to ship for six months, will include preconfigured modules to link easily to legacy PeopleSoft applications.

In addition to the SAP R/3 version of Netscape's application server, due to ship this month, Netscape offers tools to integrate its application server with BEA Tuxedo and IBM's CICS, IMS, and MQSeries. It also has tools to extend custom corporate applications.

Pricing for the PeopleSoft extension to Netscape application server, for Windows NT and Solaris, is $70,000 per CPU.