Red Hat announces strategy to "future-proof" Java

Red Hat today announced the JBoss Open Choice application platform strategy, an approach that the company says will redefine the use of Java in the enterprise by making it easier to develop and deploy applications. The idea, the company said, is to give developers a single environment for launching different programming models from a common platform. In a statement, the company said:

The JBoss Open Choice strategy represents Red Hat's response to the expanding and rapidly changing landscape of Java for the enterprise, which is marked by more variety and more choice of programming and deployment models than ever before.

The state of Java today has changed significantly - not only in programming languages and models but also in the varying needs of the enterprise as it related to applications. At the same time, the needs and demands in the enterprise have become more complex. Red Hat's new architecture within Open Choice - called JBoss Microcontainer - "uniquely isolates core enterprise class platform services from the variety of container and framework choices available today," the company said.

With this strategy, the company said that customers can embrace the latest innovations in Java by choosing the framework, language and programming technologies that best meets their needs. But more importantly, the announcements "future-proof" customers from any uncertainty about Java in the coming years.

Earlier this year, Oracle announced an acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which included Java. It's unclear what will happen under the acquisition - and certainly that will be a topic of conversation at this week's JavaOne Conference in San Francisco.

Still, the company - in a webcast announcement of the news today - said that it's unclear where enterprise java will be headed in the coming years. But if new methods are developed, customers won't have to throw out their architecture and start over. Red Hat, the company said, will be able to support it.

The new products are expected to be available in the third quarter.

Also see: Special Report: Oracle buys Sun - and Java

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