Apple Computer Inc. Wednesday rolled out
the latest version of its application server software that develops enterprise
network applications for intranet and e-commerce Web sites.
Already a complete application server, WebObjects 4.5 features tools that
increase reduce Web application development time and can improve performance
by more than 50 percent.
WebObjects is an open, standards-compliant application server that is ideal
for developing Java applications. Its architecture promotes quick
development of reusable components, providing scalability, load balancing
and fault-tolerant capabilities for multi-threaded applications running
across multiple CPUs, the company said.
New features in WebObjects 4.5 include:
- Integrated XML support, using IBM’s alphaWorks parser, enabling
developers to build applications that exchange data with other XML-based
application systems - A user interface for the WebObjects Builder with features that shorten
development time - Built-in application profiling tools that allow WebObjects applications
to dynamically monitor execution environments, which can improve performance
by at least 50 percent - A back-end LDAP adaptor that enables developers to authenticate users
against LDAP servers or build asset management applications that can easily
talk to directory services - Direct to Java Client technology which completely automates the process
of creating rich, 100 percent Pure Java clients for accessing databases over
the Internet
“WebObjects is the application server platform of choice because of its
reliable, mature and comprehensive environment,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s AAPL
chief executive officer. “Now customers can create the world’s most powerful
Web sites faster than ever before with WebObjects’ new WebObjects Builder
interface and Direct to Java Client technology.”
WebObjects is priced at $1,499 per seat for the developer edition, which
includes licenses to deploy limited performance servers. Customer deployment
prices range from $7,500 to $50,000 per server, depending on the number of
connections associated with a deployment license.
