Oracle is planning to announce the next version of its flagship WebLogic application server during an online event Dec. 1, according to information on the company's website.
WebLogic Server 12c, in which the 'C' appears to be shorthand for "cloud," will succeed version 11g, which was first released in July 2009.
"Today most businesses have the ambition to move to a cloud infrastructure," Oracle said in a statement on its site. "However, IT needs to maintain and invest in their current infrastructure for supporting today's business. With Oracle WebLogic ... we provide you with the best of both worlds."
WebLogic 12c will be key to Oracle's Exalogic application server appliance, which has so far been overshadowed by the Exadata database machine, as well as its recently announced public cloud service.
Customers will be able to build out private clouds with Exalogic as well as use Oracle's WebLogic-based public cloud service, while easily moving the applications back and forth, according to Oracle.
Features of WebLogic 12c include Java EE 6, Active GridLink for RAC (Real Application Clusters), Traffic Director and Virtual Assembly Builder, Oracle said.
Hasan Rizvi, senior vice president, Oracle Fusion Middleware and Java, is scheduled to speak during the event along with other executives. Oracle is also planning to run a "developer deep dive" event on the same day.
Current pricing for the high-end WebLogic Suite is US$45,000 per processor, plus $9,900 in annual support. It wasn't immediately clear whether Oracle will institute a price increase upon 12c's release.
WebLogic 12c will compete with a variety of other Java application servers, including Red Hat's JBoss and IBM's WebSphere, as well as Oracle's own GlassFish, which was acquired through the purchase of Sun Microsystems.
GlassFish costs $5,000 per processor along with $1,100 in yearly maintenance fees, or about half as much as WebLogic Server Standard Edition. There is also a community-supported version of GlassFish available at no charge.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com