When can we expect to see IBM WebSphere...
Articles and Tips: qna
01 Dec 2001
Q.
When can we expect to see IBM WebSphere 4.0 for NetWare? We have a new OS, NetWare 6, but now we need a new, fresh, version of IBM WebSphere!
A.
Unfortunately, Novell has changed direction regarding WebSphere. You can read the letter from Jim Abbot Product Manager, Java Technologies below. Basically this has indicated that future WebSphere work has now been dropped. The version that ships with NetWare 5.x is little more than a JSP/Servlet runner, as such the port of Apache has replaced it. The reply also indicated that Novell had few sales of the advanced version.
"There has been a push at Novell to move away from things that require the NetWare client under them. In reality we have replaced the MVC Beans as you refer to them, with pure Java LDAP beans that use straight JNDI underneath and do not require NJCL to be there.
"With regard to WebSphere Advanced, this was purely a business decision. We were not selling a great deal of the product but were expending considerable resources to support the porting effort and felt we could better utilize the engineering resources on other Java based initiatives. Our customers, both internal (other development groups) and external, tell us what they really need is a portable highly open servlet / JSP container.
"They clearly wanted something very easy to manage with as small a memory foot-print as possible. In NetWare 6 we chose to include Tomcat to satisfy this requirement, so far it seems to meet the needs of the majority of our current developer needs.
"We are looking at a number of J2EE components as well as a number of Web Services and including XML, SOAP, UDDI and WebDav and the best delivery vehicle for making them available to our own internal and external development groups.
"We will continue to ship WebSphere Standard edition as part of NetWare 5.1 for some time into the future. Most of us feel WebSphere is an excellent product, we have similar feelings toward WebLogic as does our consulting group Cambridge Technologies. What Novell customers require today however, appears to be considerably less sophisticated in meeting their daily needs."
* Originally published in Novell AppNotes
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The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.