Sun Microsystems Inc is gearing up to launch the first new upgrade to its acquired SeeBeyond technology since it has been under Sun’s watch, Computer Business Review has learned.
What was formerly SeeBeyond’s Integrated Composite Application Network (ICAN) 5.0 is being made a part of Sun’s Java Enterprise System product line, and with an upgrade is to become known as Composite Application Platform Suite (CAPS) 5.1. The SeeBeyond brand is being phased out completely from March.
Sun is positioning CAPS as its offering for customers looking for a platform to underpin their service oriented architecture (SOA) strategies, aimed more at systems analysts and business people in development roles than more technical software developers.
Sun senior vice president Mark Bauhaus told Computer Business Review that CAPS 5.1 will ship by the end of this quarter, with additional operating system and application server support, the option of subscription-based pricing, as well as performance and user interface improvements. Sun is also moving CAPS to a more regular update and upgrade cycle in line with Sun’s other software products.
The CAPS Suite sits within Sun’s Java Enterprise System product line, which as well as CAPS includes Identity Management Suite, Availability Suite, Web Infrastructure Suite and Communications Suite.
Many of the individual elements within the Java Enterprise System have already been open sourced, and the plan is for all products in the portfolio to be open sourced inside of two years, according to Bauhaus. Apparently it takes a while for Sun to go through all of the code in each product and check there are no intellectual property (IP) issues to address before it can be open sourced. Checking the Solaris operating system for such IP issues before it was open sourced took over three years.
However open source doesn’t necessarily mean free in this case – if you want support, maintenance, warranties and indemnification against any IP threats then there is a licensing fee to pay. I don’t know a single CIO who has said, ‘great, I can get it free without all those things and save money’ – they just wouldn’t run their business on that kind of model, said Bauhaus.
Indeed the subscription licensing for the whole Java Enterprise Suite is about to jump from $140 per employee to $200 per employee from June this year, now that CAPS has been added to it. Customers can still buy CAPS, the Identity Management Suite, Availability Suite, Web Infrastructure Suite or Communications Suite individually, at $50 per user for each, if they do not want the whole shooting match.
So far, Sun says SeeBeyond has continued to grow since it was folded into the software and systems giant. Bauhaus said SeeBeyond had a record quarter in Europe, and that sales for SeeBeyond as a whole grew in double digits, but declined to put a figure on total sales from the former unit.
Bauhaus also revealed that SeeBeyond’s founder and CEO Jim Demetriades left Sun shortly after the deal closed, but the other 23 out of 24 senior executives are said to have stayed on with Sun in various roles.
Specifically, CAPS 5.1 is getting JBoss application server support, as well as support for Sun’s own application server – it already supported IBM WebSphere and BEA WebLogic. Operating system support has been increased to now include IBM AIX, Tandem, Windows, Solaris and Linux. 5.1 also sees the addition of support for the nascent WS-Security web services security specification.
