SAN MATEO (03/10/2000) - Allaire Corp. next week will outline its strategic vision, including products and initiatives, for offering a complete platform upon which customers can create Internet-based business solutions.
A major part of the company's strategy is increased Java support, which will first manifest itself in the release of a complete Java application server, JRun 3.0. The new product, to support the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification, is in beta now and expected to ship in the second quarter of this year.
That Java support will be expanded upon in the first half of next year with the release of Allaire's next-generation ColdFusion Web application server, code-named Pharaoh. The upgrade will integrate the current JRun and ColdFusion offerings into a single, Java-based application server offering backward compatibility with both ColdFusion and JRun applications.
Allaire's packaged applications, Allaire Spectra, also will be upgraded as part of the strategy, with support being added by the end of this year for advanced merchandising capabilities such as catalog managing, order processing, and dynamic pricing.
That added support will be complemented in the first half of next year by the integration with Spectra of new visual tools, including a common administrative console, single integrated development environment with Java support, a new generation Allaire's HomeSite HTML editor, and new business productivity tools.
Before that, the company will launch a new product initiative, code-named Tron, this coming fall that will include an XML-based business-to-business integration server for online commerce.
Finally, Allaire is working on a Web systems management offering, code-named Harvest, which will automate the monitoring and controlling of server farms and provide advanced replication technology for deploying applications across large enterprises without service interruption.
According to Steve Garone, a research manager at International Data Corp.
(IDC), in Framingham, Massachusetts, the roadmap should position Allaire as a potential leader in the emerging Internet Business Platform market.
Allaire, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is at http://www.allaire.com/.
(Michael Lattig is an InfoWorld senior writer.)