Sun, IBM and Lutris hit the app dev mark

Based on the NetBeans Tools Platform, an open-source, modular IDE written entirely in Java, Forte for Java simplifies the tasks performed most often by developers: building, compiling, browsing, and debugging code. Thanks to numerous wizards, JavaBean assembly tools, and a JPDA (Java Platform Debugging Architecture)-compatible debugger, Forte for Java helps developers become productive more quickly.

I use the free Community Edition, which includes everything needed to build stand-alone applications, applets, JavaBeans, and Java clients. The US$499 Internet Edition adds support for team development and integration with Tomcat, an open-source Java Server Page 1.1/Servlet 2.2 engine, helping to speed up development of database-driven Web applications.

Is your company looking for a cost-effective way to provide Web-based access to legacy applications and data? If so, I highly recommend IBM's host access solution, WebSphere Host On-Demand 5.0.3.

In addition to its compatibility with OS/390, OS/400, Solaris, HP-UX, and Linux systems, WebSphere Host On-Demand supports a multitude of emulation types including TN3270, TN3270E, TN5250, VT100, and VT220 to name only a few of the many types available.

Because WebSphere Host On-Demand installs on a server rather than on client systems, it simplifies maintenance, distribution, and upgrades, and its configuration wizards make defining and deploying connections a breeze. Costing $349 per concurrent user, the service should please even the most penny-wise IT shops.

Companies that wish to deploy full-featured Java applications and avoid worries about end-users' browser limitations or platform differences should be as pleased as I am with Sun's Java Web Start 1.0 (JWS) software. With JWS, end-users are given the benefits of a client-based application, including rich functionality and ease of use, and administrators avoid having to standardize on clients or visit every desktop for installation.

After applications are deployed using JWS, end-users download and launch them by clicking a URL or a desktop icon. Because JWS maintains version information, subsequent downloads are not required unless the application has changed. Best of all, Java Web Start is available from Sun's Web sit at no charge.

Most executives realize that clues to increasing revenue and lowering costs are locked away in their vast stores of corporate information. Data-mining technologies are vital for analyzing the structured information residing in databases but do not offer a way to tap the knowledge hidden in unstructured text. That's where IBM's Intelligent Miner for Text 2.0 comes in.

Providing business managers with a suite of full-text retrieval and analysis tools, Intelligent Miner allows them to unlock business information that's "trapped" in e-mail, sales forms, or even competitors' Web pages. Although this is a fairly expensive technology to deploy ($30,000 for the first processor, plus $10,000 per each additional one), the potential benefits are staggering. Users interested in trying before buying can download a fully functional 60-day evaluation copy from IBM's Web site.

Rounding out my top five is Lutris Technologies Inc.'s Enhydra Enterprise, an enterprise-ready Java application server with open-source roots. In addition to being Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) compliant, Enhydra Enterprise offers server clustering, session-level fail-over, and dynamic load balancing. And it supports just about any wireless device out there.

Now in beta, the forthcoming release will feature not only the switch to a completely service-based architecture independently managed with JMX (Java Management Extensions), but it will also augment the security services of J2EE with an implementation of the JAAS (Java Authentication and Authorization Service). Couple its anticipated price of $5,000 per CPU with a stellar list of features, and this open-source application server becomes a real contender.