Oracle Updates Java Tools For Mobile And Cloud

Oracle has issued a number of new developer releases including a new version of its Cloud Application Foundation.

And the software giant also released new versions of some of its core Java technologies – Oracle Application Development Framework, Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse.

Cloud Update

Essentially Oracle announced the 12c releases of Oracle Application Development Framework, Oracle JDeveloper, and Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse.

Oracle’s Cloud Application Foundation provides a unified platform across conventional and cloud environments, which helps customers deliver next-generation applications, simplify operations, accelerate time-to-market, lower their total cost of ownership and derive more value from their current application infrastructure.

Cloud Application Foundation integrates application server and in-memory data grid capabilities into a foundation for cloud computing, Mike Lehmann, vice president of product management at Oracle, told eWEEK. It consists of Oracle WebLogic Server 12.1.2 and in Oracle Coherence 12.1.2.

“Cloud is becoming a key enabler for companies to introduce new products, reduce cost and increase productivity,” said Cameron Purdy, vice president of development at Oracle, in a statement. “Oracle Cloud Application Foundation offers a unified platform across conventional and cloud environments, so customers can leverage their existing investment in Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle Coherence and move to the Cloud at a pace that meets the needs of their business.”

“This is a major wave of releases that is the culmination of a lot of work on the part of the database and middleware team at Oracle,” Al Hilwa, an analyst at IDC, told eWEEK. “It is one of the most integrated releases they have ever shipped in that there are several points of deep integration across the layers. I also think the multi-tenancy aspects provide a good basis to implement cloud software in a cost-effective way, which is a key focus area for cloud providers.”

Oracle WebLogic Server 12.1.2 uses dynamic clustering for cloud elasticity and more efficient resource management, as well as simplified Java Messaging Service (JMS) administration for operational efficiency. The app server also provides certification and integration with Oracle Database 12c, including support for pluggable database access and database application continuity capabilities for increased availability. In addition, it helps increase developer productivity with enhanced support for Apache Maven for build and lifecycle management, as well as for HTML5, Java and WebSockets for development of rich, mobile and cross-platform applications, Lehmann said. And it provides declarative JSON or XML-based access to enterprise data sources via REST through Oracle TopLink data services.

Data Caching

Oracle Coherence 12.1.2 is Oracle’s in-memory data caching solution. It scales applications to meet mobile and cloud demands. Coherence also powers applications with real-time availability of database changes automatically through Oracle Coherence GoldenGate HotCache and improves cluster lifecycle management by leveraging the Oracle WebLogic Management Framework with Managed Coherence Servers, Lehmann said.

Moreover, Coherence enhances the customer experience with Oracle Coherence Live Events, a simplified event processing platform, and adapts to spikes in user demand automatically with dynamic proxy thread pooling. And it optimises the trade-off between performance and data consistency with flexible high-availability options and delivers multi-data centre solutions with site-safe and rack-safe enhancements.

Oracle WebLogic Server, Oracle Coherence and Oracle Web Tier have a new common install, update, patch and provisioning framework, along with standardised administrative tooling, which further improves the customer experience and reduces operational complexity, Lehmann said. And Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle Coherence are optimised to run on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud. Oracle Exalogic is hardware and software engineered together to provide extreme performance, reliability and scalability for Oracle, Java and other business applications.