BEA Systems Inc has acquired Boulder, Colorado-based Avitek Inc, a developer of Java and Enterprise JavaBeans software, on undisclosed terms. It is the second Java acquisition San Jose, California-based BEA has made in a month: in mid July it acquired Technology Resource Group Inc, a Maynard, Massachusetts-based education and consulting firm specializing in Java, Corba, XML and UML, again on undisclosed terms.
Avitek has been in business since 1995, and has 35 software engineers working on Java-based front-office e-commerce applications. It has completed over 30 Java projects for companies such as US West Inc, EchoStar Communications Corp and Excite Inc subsidiary MatchLogic. TRGI has 15 staff based in Massachusetts and London, and runs courses for Fortune 500 companies. BEA says that combining the two new acquisitions with consulting firm Component Systems Inc, a company which it bought back in June (CI No 3,673), gives it a full set of products and services for deploying component-based applications for e-commerce.
BEA says that Avitek brings with it a rapid prototyping methodology it calls SteelThread, along with expertise in reusable custom Java components and a portfolio of components complementary to BEA’s own component suite. Use of SteelThread will both speed up and reduce the risk of component projects, it says. Avitek, which will continue to operate from Boulder, will become part of BEA’s eSolutions business Group. Gail Ennis, vice president of the division, says she expects the 160-strong unit to grow to 230 staff by the end of the year. She expects eSolutions will account for around a quarter of BEA’s total revenue within two years. Avitek’s components, expected to be made commercially available as soon as the deal is closed, will be used with the eLink product family for the integration of new components with legacy and ERP applications such as SAP AG’s R/3.
Earlier this week, BEA released version 4.2 of its WebLogic Enterprise application server. It now provides integrated Corba C++ and Corba Java support, along with the BEA Tuxedo API, and has links to two competing object request brokers: Iona Technologies Ltd’s Orbix and Inprise Inc’s Visigenics ORB. Before the end of the year, BEA plans to release WebLogic Enterprise 5.0, adding support for Java2 Enterprise Edition, including Enterprise Java Beans. That will enable developers to mix Corba objects with Tuxedo transaction services and EJB components. Prices start at $20,000 on Sun Solaris and Windows NT. BEA acquired WebLogic last September (CI No 3,505).
