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jBusiness: Focus on intranets works

MARCH 1999

Novera application server requires superior Java skills but builds exceptionally portable code

Novera Software Inc. is aiming its services straight at the high-end corporate intranet market, and with its updated jBusiness Java application server, it hits the mark.

jBusiness 4.0, which shipped last month, provides centralized application hosting for corporate developers moving their business logic from C or COBOL to Java. Java objects, such as a customer reporting module or a loan authorization component, can be written either in jBusiness' own API or, new with this release, in Sun Microsystems Inc.'s EJB (Enterprise JavaBean) format.

In the increasingly crowded application server market (now inhabited by more than 20 companies in rabid competition), jBusiness stands out, both positively and negatively, for its narrow focus on the high-end Java development space.

Developing jBusiness applications requires cutting-edge Java development skills, however, so only organizations that have these skills in-house should take the plunge.

Those looking for a less coding-intensive approach will be better off with packages such as SilverStream Software Inc.'s SilverStream or Bluestone Software Inc.'s Sapphire/Web. However, those products lack jBusiness' fine-tuning capabilities.

Freedom of movement

Including EJB support is a big step forward for Novera and for the application server market in general, freeing developers from rewriting code when moving from one application server to another.

jBusiness also provides three load-balancing methods to ensure that its systems keep pace. We could route incoming requests to the first available server, to the server with the fewest current client connections or to a randomly selected server.

In keeping with Java's code portability promise, jBusiness runs on Solaris 2.5.1 and 2.6, HP-UX 10.2, and Windows NT 4.0. Its server license is priced at $9,995 per CPU; developer licenses cost $3,495 each. User licenses are $350 per concurrent user.

Working alone

Unlike most other application servers, jBusiness does not work especially closely with a Web server, nor does it provide any HTML or Web site development tools. In this regard, it bears more resemblance to stand-alone application servers such as Sybase Inc.'s Enterprise Application Server or Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft Transaction Server than to Web-focused products such as SilverStream.

Client systems can connect directly to a Novera server, instead of the Web server, using Internet Inter-ORB Protocol and CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), both of which are closely tied to emerging Java application server standards.

Novera hasn't gotten the kinks out of connecting a Java client to a jBusiness server through a firewall, as the public or business partners would need to do. Until it does, jBusiness will remain best-suited for intranet deployment.

Access to code

jBusiness also includes customized versions of Sun's Java servlet code libraries, which allow regular Web browser clients to access jBusiness code through a firewall or from within an intranet. However, this approach creates more work because developers have to write two layers of code instead of one. A more integrated solution would be preferable. jBusiness doesn't include any servlet run-time code, which will be needed, but the Java Servlet Development Kit is a free download from Sun's Web site. jBusiness provides a wide-ranging set of back-end data connectors that developers can use to consolidate information from diverse sources. In particular, jBusiness has a strong mainframe connectivity component in its MAC (Mainframe Access Constructor), which, in tests, gave us a graphical interface to use when writing screen-scraping scripts for jBusiness. The MAC natively supports both normal Telnet and TN3270 connections.

Also included are Java Database Connectivity support, mail server connectors, an FTP connector and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol support for user authentication.

jBusiness doesn't have any Java development tools per se, but it includes a graphical utility that we used to automatically generate Java class files from relational database tables. This mapping layer allows Java developers to manipulate relational database data seamlessly through Java object-oriented code, making it simple to incorporate database information into jBusiness applications. No JDBC or embedded SQL is required, but developers can use these non-object-oriented approaches if they wish.

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