IBM announced the release of WebSphere Application Server V8 in the 2011 IMPACT conference. A peek into what is in the offing:
Built upon the IBM Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the Application Server provides the foundation for the WebSphere portfolio, including IBM Workload Deployer, WebSphere Virtual Enterprise, WebSphere Compute Grid, and the WebSphere eXtreme Scale and DataPower XC10 appliance. The WebSphere Application Server family for Version 8.0 continues to provide offerings to fit your needs ranging from lightweight developer desktop environments to highly complex and highly available enterprise environments.
The editions:
WebSphere Application Server for Developers - A no charge edition for the developer deskop
WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition - Optimized to run instantly on server virtualization environments
WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment - Offers advanced performance and management capabilities
WebSphere Application Server for z/OS - Takes full advantage of the z/OS Sysplex
WebSphere Application Server Express - Lower cost, ready to go solution for Web applications
WebSphere Application Server Community Edition - Open source based, small foot print offering with no upfront acquisition costs
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 focuses on three primary goals:
- Speeding your delivery of applications and services
- Enhancing operational efficiency and reliability
- Expanding the security and administrative control of the server
Some of key features in V8:
- Speeds the development and test lifecycle by providing “self-service” access to consistent topologies and patterns through the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition and the IBM Workload Deployer.
- Faster to edit, compile and debug is through a new feature that permits you to use a monitored directory. Application contents, including complete applications and/or modules, can be moved into or out of the monitored directory.
- Rich set of feature packs for programming model support
- Java EE6 expands greatly the developer value that was first introduced in Java EE5, which was a core programming model in Version 7
- Rapidly assemble & deploy applications to WebSphere Application Server environments using IBM Assembly and Deploy Tools for WebSphere Administration.
- Faster time to value & lower operational costs through new install & maintenance technology using IBM Installation Manager
- Administrative enhancement in Version 8.0 permits the movement of a node from one machine to another, even if the two machines are different platforms
- A new “in-place” bundle update capability for OSGi applicationsto rapidly extend applications to meet new business requirements with reduced down time
- Migrate WebSphere environments faster with minimized risk with enhanced configuration migration tooling