IBM’s Websphere product family – Big Blue’s naked bid for the hearts and minds of the Java application server market – already boasts three tiers of application servers, a performance pack and a development tool studio (CI No 3,492). What more could Java developers possibly want? Full marks to those who suggested transaction processing. The expanded Websphere family now integrates IBM’s TXSeries, Net.Commerce and Component Broker with the Websphere Application Server. Websphere now shares componentry with Lotus Domino, Universal Database, CICS, IMS, OS/390 and OS/400 through IBM’s SanFrancisco Business Components. If nothing else, that’s one in the eye for SanFrancisco’s doubters (CI No 3,489). The servers also share a common programming architecture based around Enterprise Java Beans, common development tools through the VisualAge family and common systems management courtesy of Tivoli. The idea is that developers can choose any combination of the above-mentioned and trust them to interoperate smoothly. Would Big Blue lie to you?
