Here is your chance to get the inside track on WebLogic: Eric Stahl of BEA answered readers' tough questions about BEA products and where they're headed in the coming year. Eric has spent the last three years at BEA Systems and is currently the director of product marketing for WebLogic Server and WebLogic JRockit. Eric's team is focused on product communications, developer relations, market analysis, competitive analysis, analyst relations, benchmarking, and other product-focused activities.
<J. Michael Towry>: Will the upcoming WLS 8.1 release contain any new features from J2EE 1.4/EJB 2.1? Is there a "ballpark" ETA for a WLS version with a complete J2EE 1.4 implementation?
<Eric Stahl>: Through our ties to the JCP and the WS-I, we supported the push back of the J2EE 1.4 because we think it should incorporate the Basic Profile. But our release train has a lot of momentum, and we think we have a great new package in WebLogic 8.1, so J2EE 1.4 will be delivered in a future release.
<Tony Ciafardoni>: I've used Workshop with WLS 7.0.1. How will Workshop be extended and enhanced in WLS 8.0?
<Stahl>: Check out the new Workshop beta and hopefully you'll be impressed. We've added the ability to access all aspects of the platform, so it's a major advancement. This allows you to develop your core application from a single environment, integrate it with back-end resources, and expose it through the portal. It's a great end-to-end view.
<Sreedhar>: I'm searching for the best application server for our Web-based product. Can you briefly explain the advantage of WebLogic Server over other application servers? It will be very useful for us.
<Stahl>: We think WebLogic Server is easier to use (development, administration, and integration), and industrial strength (reliability, scale, security). I'd recommend looking into our Workshop Application Framework; our clustering architecture; our configuration, management, and security capabilities; and the extension of the application server with the WebLogic Platform, which includes WebLogic Portal and WebLogic Integration. Beyond the product, look at the ecosystem. We've seen massive consolidation in the application server space over the last few years, and BEA has been fortunate enough to come out on top. This drives the larger developer, ISV, hardware, and SI partnerships that ultimately offer more choices to our customers. Also, many best practices are established through the many books, magazines, user groups, and other WebLogic resources that are available.
<Mike Gardner>: Considering how complicated a server-side product WebLogic Server is, do you consider 2.25 years from product launch to desupport a long enough time? Please consider (especially for large shops): (1) jumping on a new product version is foolhardy; six months of settle-time is prudent... with SP1 or SP2. (2) Multiple projects, with different or possibly the same resources, have to be aligned. (3) Stress-tested burn-in time in dev, test, and QA is prudent. (4) IT departments have more to do than upgrade infrastructure.
So it's reasonable that a year has already gone by before WLS can be migrated confidently into production, leaving a little over a year before production problems are not supported.
<Stahl>:
