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The magic of BEA WebLogic Server on the HP NonStop platform
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| Flexibility in mission-critical computing has reached
a new high with the availability of BEA WebLogic
Server on the HP NonStop platform.
“Customers really appreciate the fact that they
can take a BEA WebLogic application off a Solaris
or Windows® box and deploy it on the NonStop
system with no changes,” said Doug Woods, BEA’s
senior technical account manager for HP products.
“They can write the application once. They can run
it on any platform, including the NonStop server,
without code changes. And when it runs in the
NonStop system environment, it inherits all the
continuous availability, linear scalability, and data
integrity of the underlying technology.”
Several joint customers have already put BEA
WebLogic Server into production on the NonStop
platform. “Customers absolutely require a robust,
guaranteed delivery platform,” noted Woods. “This is
why we’re seeing increased demand for WebLogic
on NonStop servers. Additionally, independent software
vendors are porting and testing their applications, gearing
up for a greater deployment on NonStop systems.”
This interest has increased now that WebLogic
Server 8.1 Service Pack 2 has been released for the
NonStop platform. The new release boosts performance
significantly. It also supports applications
developed using the BEA WebLogic Workshop
interactive development environment tool.
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A broad partnership
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BEA’s involvement with the NonStop platform goes
back to the late 1990s, when BEA acquired Tuxedo,
on which HP NonStop Tuxedo is based. More
recently, BEA and HP collaborated to make WebLogic
Server, a J2EE application server that enables the
customer to build and deploy J2EE applications,
available on the NonStop platform. “J2EE is becoming
the de facto standard for building enterprise applications
on all platforms, from Windows systems all
the way to NonStop systems,” Woods explained.
“Having WebLogic Server on the NonStop platform
enables customers to leverage applications based
on the latest and greatest technology.”
The latest BEA product to be ported to the NonStop
system environment is WebLogic Integration, an
enterprise solution that provides integration,
business process management, and workflow for
enterprise customers. BEA WebLogic Integration 8.1 SP2 is expected to become available on NonStop
servers in the fall of 2004.
BEA’s traditional focus has been on the financial
services and telecommunications industries, but the
company also has hundreds of customers in retail,
government, and other vertical markets. Not
surprisingly, many of these enterprises rely on
NonStop servers to handle their mission-critical
applications; joint customers include Wells Fargo,
DIRECTV, Banamex, and the Bombay Stock
Exchange. “We’re a key piece of the infrastructure
that enables NonStop servers to deliver the real-time
enterprise,” noted George Gould, BEA product
marketing director.
Of course the partnership extends well beyond
NonStop technology. BEA products run on all HP
operating systems. The two companies collaborate
on sales and marketing activities. There is a deep
and highly productive relationship at the engineering
level. Within HP Services, BEA engages with support,
consulting and integration, and managed services.
On the software side, there are close links to the
HP OpenView and HP OpenCall product families.
BEA also has an evolving relationship with HP’s
printing and imaging group.
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| HP’s Real Time Information Director software is based
on years of development and more than 30 implementations
of the Zero Latency Enterprise (ZLE)
architecture pioneered by HP’s NonStop Enterprise
Division. It uses BEA WebLogic Server to apply business
rules in real time, while integrating, cleansing, aggregating,
and distributing critical business data across
company, supplier, and partner systems. The new
software combines key technologies to simplify
application and data integration, reducing the custom
development work typically required for real-time
business solutions.
Real Time Information Director software is an important
component of new real-time business solutions for
supply chain, finance, healthcare, retail, and telecommunications,
all of which are based on the ZLE architecture.
The Real Time Information Director also has
been deployed in HP’s own supply chain operations to
speed execution and provide an enterprisewide view
of supply chain information. |
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Taking on the mainframe
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| When it comes to a face-off with the mainframe
world, however, BEA’s weapon of choice is the
NonStop server. “Today, IT organizations are starting
to move legacy applications from older systems to
more modern architectures that can deliver enterprise
quality of service,” explained Gould. “For many
years, Tuxedo has provided the infrastructure to
support high-end transaction processing and multiple
languages; legacy applications written in COBOL or C
can be moved quite easily to the Tuxedo and NonStop
system environment. The addition of WebLogic
products gives NonStop system customers the most
flexibility to develop, migrate, repurpose, consolidate,
and extend their enterprise applications.”
Gary Nakamura, director of the worldwide HP
alliance for BEA, concurs with this assessment.
“Approximately 10,000 IBM mainframes will reach
end of life by the end of 2005, and changing them
requires a forklift upgrade,” he said. “Customers
who require a trusted hardware environment with
mission-critical functionality and scalability have
stayed with these mainframes.
“Today, the NonStop server with BEA software
offers a viable alternative to legacy systems, one
that delivers unrivaled scalability and availability
coupled with a flexible, modern architecture,”
continued Nakamura. “And going forward, the
strategic partnership among BEA, HP, and Intel
will drive even greater enhancement in our joint
offerings through the delivery of new Intel® Itanium®
processor–based products.”
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