Red Hat Previews JBoss Application Server 7

Red Hat’s JBoss middleware division is now previewing the next generation of its Java middleware. JBoss AS 7 (Application Server) is currently in beta, providing developers and enterprise with an opportunity to see the future of Red Hat’s middleware server technology.

New open source middleware Java Server release nears completion.

Ashesh Badani, Senior Director, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) explained to InternetNews.com that the new AS 7 release will take full advantage of the JavaEE 6 specifications.

A key part of JBoss release is a modular service container to help combat middleware bloat. Modularity also helps to optimize the platform, so only needed services are running. Badani noted that JBoss developers have also been aggressive in the area of memory management. The overall goal is to create a leaner platform that starts faster and is more efficient.

“What we’re doing is putting a lot more intelligence in the application platform itself,” Badani said. “In the past, people had to have tuning guides to optimize performance, and now the AS platform does its own optimizations.”

The loading of applications is also getting attention in the AS 7 release. Badani explained that in the past .jar files were used to load applications that could have had issues with version numbers and dependencies. In AS 7, the platform is able to recognize when there are issues and enable users to more easily load and deploy their applications.

Management capabilities have also been improved with multi-domain management.

“In the past, if you had several nodes in a cluster and you wanted to change configuration, you had to go to each node to make a change,” Badani said. “Now you can do that all automatically.”

Looking being just Java, Badani noted that Red Hat now has a project called TorqueBox that provides a bridge to the world of Ruby development as well. Looking at AS 7 as server platform for more than just Java apps is a part of the overall roadmap as well.

“Going forward, we continue to expect that we’ll support more languages and framework on Application Server as well,” Badani said.

Badani noted that the final AS 7 release is scheduled to be out some time in July.

“That technology is the foundation for our Enterprise Application Platform that’s scheduled for early next calendar year,” Badani said. “The six months between the community and enterprise releases is for hardening and additional testing and certifications to take place.”

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

Follow ServerWatch on Twitter