MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Google Inc. has announced a new version of Google App Engine, furthering its goal of making Google's scalable infrastructure available to all developers, from those in startups to those working in enterprise IT departments.

New features include:

Cron support:
Developers want the flexibility to run tasks on a regular basis, without the need for labor-intensive monitoring and maintenance. Starting today, App Engine developers can automatically run and schedule jobs using cron.

How to create apps for Google App Engine

Database import and export:
Developers want the freedom to move around application data in lockstep with business needs. Starting today, App Engine developers can batch transfer gigabytes of data into App Engine using a new import tool. Export capabilities will be available within the next month.

Access to firewalled data:
Enterprise developers want the security of firewalled data and the ease of web app deployment, but applications in the cloud can't generally access on-premise datastores. To address this challenge Google is launching the Secure Data Connector, which enables centrally-managed access to on-premise data from Google Apps, including App Engine- and gadget-based solutions.

"In making Google's infrastructure broadly available, App Engine has helped over 150,000 developers focus on designing and launching great products, without the usual scale and maintenance headaches," said Andrew Bowers, product manager at Google.

In conjunction with today's news, Google is also providing developers an early look at App Engine's support for the Java programming language.

Limited to the first 10,000 sign-ups, this early look is intended to gather feedback from the Java developer community. Important highlights include:

* Standards-based. App Engine's use of standard Java APIs and libraries enables developers to work with the Java tools and frameworks they're already familiar with, and ensures the easy deployment of their Java code to all standard J2EE servlet containers, including IBM WebSphere, Tomcat and others.

* An end-to-end solution. App Engine's early look at Java language support includes a Java runtime, integration with the new Google Web Toolkit 1.6, and a Google Plugin for Eclipse. Together these tools provide a unified development experience for writing AJAX applications in a single language, from client to server.