Red Hat Delivers JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 Beta And Tools

Red Hat has announced the downloadable public beta version of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.

Last year, Red Hat introduced an early access programme for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6. The release of the platform is the culmination of Red Hat’s efforts to support adoption of Java Enterprise Edition (EE) 6 technologies, enable platform as a service (PaaS) development, and simplify the management of application servers regardless of where they are deployed.

Greater agility

The latest generation of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform enables greater agility and responsiveness than ever before. JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 is higher performing and easier to manage. This cloud-ready application is based upon the open-source JBoss Application Server 7, one of the first Java EE servers available in a PaaS, and is designed to help organisations deploy to the cloud at their own pace.

Meanwhile, for developers, Red Hat also is delivering the beta of JBossDeveloper Studio 5. This package delivers a comprehensive toolset that makes it easier to create a wide range of mission-critical applications, from data centre to mobile devices, the company said.

Red Hat said JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 was created with the cloud in mind. As such, it has been designed and architected for use everywhere, including in on-premise and public clouds. This approach offers enterprises the ability to ease into the cloud without fear that the applications they develop and deploy today will be irrelevant tomorrow, the company said.

The new enterprise platform also features a set of new management capabilities that allow organisations to more easily manage their applications, automate processes and integrate their own management tools, including private clouds. In addition, JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 provides a number of usability upgrades, including faster start-up and boot times and a smarter core that starts and stops services as required, without the need to manually load and manage classes.

Moreover, JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 supports the full Java EE 6 specification, providing an easier, modernised approach to developing enterprise applications. Additionally, JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 continues to build upon the JBoss Open Choice strategy, featuring support for other popular frameworks such as Spring, Struts and Google Web Toolkit (GWT), Red Hat’s middleware team said in a blog post. It also offers increased integration with other development tooling, including Maven and Hudson and JBoss Community projects such as Arquillian and Hibernate.

“JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 reflects our vision of the future of Java application platforms for both traditional and cloud-based environments,” said Craig Muzilla, Red Hat’s vice president and general manager of middleware business, at the time of the release of the early access programme for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 last year.

“Our next-generation platform is a major leap forward for application servers, both in terms of the advances in Java EE specification – including specifications that were heavily influenced and defined by Red Hat – and in the way application servers can be deployed, managed and administered,” he added.

In its blog post, the Red Hat Middleware Team added: “We encourage everyone to download the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 and JBoss Developer Studio 5 betas and look forward to your feedback. We also encourage you to sign up for updates on developments on both of these products. And be on the lookout for the final versions coming later this spring.”