IBM is expected to make the announcement at its developerWorks Live! 2003 show in New Orleans, with availability of the WebSphere Studio plug-in expected later this month.
While plug-ins to BEA’s Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) are not unusual, this is believed to be the first IBM has offered. WebLogic Server plug-ins are currently provided by component-based development specialist ObjectEdge and consultant Genuitec LLC.
WebLogic Server is the number-one competitor to IBM’s own WebSphere application server. One IBM executive is reported to have said the company was acting to ensure customers are happy, by making their development processes more streamlined and efficient.
IBM confirmed existence of the plug-in yesterday, but was unavailable to provide details at time of going to press.
Existence of a plug-in can be taken in one of two ways: IBM has recognized and accepted BEA as a viable long-term competitor who it must work with in mixed customer environments, or this is the thin-end of a wedge to remove BEA from such accounts.
BEA’s senior director of product marketing Erik Frieberg denied BEA’s business is threatened by IBM. Instead, he claimed the plug-in suits users of WebSphere Studio who he said like their existing Java tools suite but who wish to deploy to WebLogic Server instead of WebSphere.
Frieberg added BEA’s tools, notably WebLogic Workshop, offer greater ease-of-use to application developers than WebSphere Studio, because they require less knowledge of individual J2EE APIs.
Source: Computerwire
