UPDATED 09:11 EDT / JULY 03 2018

CLOUD

IBM boosts Java support in updated Open Liberty development platform

IBM Corp.’s campaign to promote the open-source version of its flagship WebSphere application server is getting a boost with a new release Monday of the software that supports the Java Enterprise Edition 8 specification.

That makes Open Liberty, which is the open-source version of WebSphere, the first production application server to support Java EE 8, ahead of even Java overlord Oracle Corp.

The new release also supports Spring Boot, a Java development environment that’s favored by developers for its ease of use and rapid deployment features. Spring Boot applications can now run natively on Open Liberty as well as in Docker containers, the portable lightweight runtime environment. That gives Spring applications the ability to take advantage of the inherent layering that containers provide and eliminates the cumbersome repackaging into Web Application Resource files that was previously required.

“You can now only update the application layer and not the rest of the Docker container, which makes a continuous deployment model more viable,” said Melissa Modjeski, director of WebSphere Application Server at IBM. “It can reduce the size of the code you’re pushing by 90 percent, which results in a considerable savings in time.”

Released in 1998, WebSphere is one of the most popular platforms for integrating multiple server-based applications as well as building cloud-native applications in Java. Renamed WebSphere Liberty last year, it’s intended to be a fast, reliable Java application server that accelerates developer productivity by providing a full runtime stack and integration with a variety of popular open-source automation tools. IBM released WebSphere under the Eclipse Public License late last summer, dubbing the project Open Liberty. The company continues to sell a commercial version under the name WebSphere Liberty.

“The code developed in Open Liberty is picked up and consumed in commercial Liberty,” Modjeski said. “We add some enterprise features [to WebSphere Liberty], but the code base is the same.” The decision to open-source the venerable platform “gives us a much better, more open way to collaborate with our customers,” she said. “We also saw it as a way to increase commercial sales of Websphere Liberty.”

The Docker image for Open Liberty can be downloaded from the Docker hub. The source code is hosted on GitHub.

Image: Flickr CC

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Support our open free content by sharing and engaging with our content and community.

Join theCUBE Alumni Trust Network

Where Technology Leaders Connect, Share Intelligence & Create Opportunities

11.4k+  
CUBE Alumni Network
C-level and Technical
Domain Experts
15M+ 
theCUBE
Viewers
Connect with 11,413+ industry leaders from our network of tech and business leaders forming a unique trusted network effect.

SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation serving innovative audiences and brands, bringing together cutting-edge technology, influential content, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — such as those established in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology, and AI. .

Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a powerful ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands, with a reach of 15+ million elite tech professionals. The company’s new, proprietary theCUBE AI Video cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.