IBM turns focus on open source

MUMBAI: IBM has announced the availability of new open source-based software and support for mid-sized businesses, departments in large enterprises, and business partners.

The software, WebSphere Application Server Community Edition (WAS CE) is a customizable application server and, according to IBM, easy to download and manage.

WAS CE is based on core open source technology from the J2EE-certified Apache Geronimo application server. IBM says that the software and related subscription support provides a flexible and affordable alternative that can aid customers turn to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

WAS CE includes technology from Gluecode Software, which was acquired by IBM in May this year. According to IBM, WAS CE helps Java developers reduce the complexity of application development by pre-integrating the most common services for building applications.

The new software supports Apache Tomcat, an industry standard web server also from the Apache Software Foundation and WAS CE will also integrate IBM's Cloudscape database, which is based on the open source Apache Derby Project.

"Customers are looking for support for open source technologies from a trusted IT vendor," said Robert LeBlanc, general manager, WebSphere, IBM Software Group. "WAS CE allows customers and partners to tap the innovation of open source technology backed by IBM support services to quickly develop and deploy applications based on open source technologies."

Available support includes a new developer-to-developer support service that allows customers' development teams to obtain support directly from IBM developers to resolve certain business problems using WAS CE. WAS CE will be available later this year.