Platform now includes new profiles and extensibility capabilities plus enhanced features to simplify development.
Sun Microsystems has announced the availability of the JavaPlatform Enterprise Edition 6 (Java EE 6) and significant industry support from Java technology licensees including Caucho, IBM, Oracle and Red Hat. Java EE is the premier platform for Web and enterprise application development and deployment, according to Sun. Java EE 6 introduces features to increase the flexibility of the platform and enable companies to use specific application scenarios, in addition to the full enterprise platform, to help meet their use case requirements. The Java EE SDK has been downloaded more than 18 million times, and the specification is supported by 28 licensees that market Java EE compatible-products. Developers can download and begin deploying Java EE applications today using the Java EE SDK available at: http://java.sun.com/javaee/downloads/index.jsp.
The Java EE platform and its underlying technology specifications continue to be developed through the Java Community Process (SM) (JCP) and by extension, many different open source communities. The JCP is a collaborative community effort, which includes a large group of industry-leading companies and organizations, including Apache, Caucho, Eclipse, Fujitsu, Google, HP, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat and SAP AG, along with independent community members.
Java EE 6 provides a strong foundation for the continued growth of Java technology for both developers and solution providers, according to Sun. The Java EE 6 specification introduces Profiles, which target the platform at specific application scenarios. Profiles provides more flexibility for customers, ISVs and platform vendors and allows them to better address new and existing markets.
The lightweight Web Profile is designed to specifically address Web application deployment scenarios that may not require the full enterprise functionality of the broader Java EE platform. Coupled with significant improvements to the existing specifications, and the introduction of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.1 Lite technology, the Web Profile allows Web developers to quickly and easily build applications without the need to build and manage a “custom stack.” In addition, developers requiring the power of the full platform can easily move from the Web Profile to the complete Java EE 6 platform. Additional profiles are expected to be defined in the future through the Java Community Process to address different application scenarios.
“Over the years the Java EE platform has grown and matured to cover a wide range of enterprise and Web application needs. Java EE 6 is designed to be more lightweight and modular to help simplify development, serve more applications and address various deployment scenarios. The innovative features and productivity improvements now available in Java EE 6 are the result of an extensive, collaborative development effort between Sun, the JCP and open source community members,” said Karen Tegan Padir, vice president of MySQL and Software Infrastructure at Sun. “The introduction of Java EE 6 Profiles brings new flexibility to the platform and helps to address the needs of the various communities by adding new functionality and ease of use capabilities. We expect Profiles to usher in a new era of innovation and the possibility of many exciting new products for the Java EE platform.”
Java EE 6 also defines extensibility features as a means to embrace and support external communities and innovations and allow them to cleanly “plug in” to the platform. In addition, Java EE 6 specifies a process and a set of technologies that may be “pruned” from future releases of the platform, allowing vendors and application providers to plan their migration to newer technologies that will be offered in upcoming versions of the platform.
The latest Java EE SDK delivers powerful enterprise and Web development technologies that leverage the first implementation of the Java EE 6 platform. Developers familiar with the Java EE programming model can now take advantage of the productivity improvements and the tremendous ease of development features introduced as part of Java EE 6 to build a range of applications–from Web to enterprise. Some of the enhancements include: the introduction of Context and Dependency Injection and EJB 3.1 Lite technologies, the simplification of adding EJBs to Web application war files without having to create additional packaging artifacts, the ability to drag and drop third-party frameworks through the Web-fragments.xml in servlets, the addition of numerous annotations across the platform to make it easier to build applications and the ability to embed EJBs into standalone applications to facilitate testing. A complete list of all the features of Java EE 6 is available at: http://java.sun.com/javaee/.
The Java EE platform has fostered a vibrant community and marketplace for additional technologies, frameworks, languages and applications that work with the platform. Java EE 6 delivers significant ease-of-use and productivity improvements while retaining Java EE 5 backwards compatibility, with the benefit of multiple implementations to choose from, according to Sun. The Java EE 6 reference implementation is derived from the GlassFish open source project.
Pricing and Availability
The Java EE 6 Reference Implementation, TCK and SDK are available now. The new SDK includes documentation and tools for developers to learn Java EE 6 and accelerate the creation of new enterprise applications. It is available as a free download at: http://java.sun.com/javaee/downloads/index.jsp.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer," Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open-source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.
Supporting Quotes from Java EE Licensees
Caucho
“The introduction of Profiles in the Java EE 6 Platform will help deliver the right sized solution for specific market segments. The lightweight Java EE 6 Web Profile is the ideal set of specifications for developing high performance modern Web applications. The Java EE 6 Expert Group, led by Sun, has done an excellent job on meeting the goals defined in the Java Specification Request (JSR) for this version of the platform,” said Steve Montal, CEO, Caucho.
IBM
“IBM believes that the Java EE platform has brought significant value to our customers, helping enable robust business applications and middleware. We applaud the focus in Java EE 6 to improve developer productivity and cross-technology integration while maintaining compatibility for existing customers. IBM has worked closely with expert groups in driving the same trend,” said Jim Knutson, IBM WebSphere Java EE architect.
Oracle
“Java EE 6 is another major step forward for the Java community. Oracle has a long history of participation in open standards, including the Java Community Process. Java EE 6 brings new advances, like the Oracle-led open source EclipseLink implementation of the Java Persistence API and the new Web Profile in support of lighter weight deployment and simpler development. Oracle continues to see Java EE as an actively evolving standard that adapts to the needs of developer innovation, open source communities, and enterprise requirements,” said Steven G. Harris, senior vice president, Oracle Fusion Middleware.
Red Hat
“We are proud to again be contributing critical parts to the evolution of the Java EE platform. We feel strongly that Java EE Profiles and the inclusion of the Contexts and Dependency Injection specification, JSR 299 are important steps in the right direction for Java EE. We place a high value on industry standards, they remain critical to Red Hat customers and are imperative for the future strength of enterprise Java,” said Dr. Mark Little, chief technologist, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, Red Hat.
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