GemStone introduces industry's first enterprise-class Java application server.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 1997--

- Supports Application Component Assembly and

Partitioning Through JavaBeans -

GemStone(R) Systems, Inc. today announced GemStone/J, the industry's first, highly scaleable, enterprise-class, Java(TM) object application server for building and deploying large, mission-critical Java applications using three-tier intranet technology. The announcement was made at the JavaOne conference.

Targeted at the corporate enterprise computing market, GemStone/J implements the industry's first transactional Java VM, shared object manager and integrated repository for enabling Java applications involving several hundred million Java objects and thousands of users in a transaction-intensive environment. The GemStone Java VM is based on technology licensed from Sun, and as a result can run any 100% pure Java application. This enables GemStone/J to incorporate best-of-breed Java technology such as JavaBeans(TM) components and IIOP to facilitate interoperability and provide standard services for enterprise-level computing.

GemStone also announced the GemBuilder/J for Beans product that provides an open development model for enterprise applications based on JavaSoft's JavaBeans component technology. GemBuilder/J for Beans, coupled with standard Java development tools, allows developers to easily partition and manage distributed JavaBeans applications from a GUI environment. GemBuilder/J for Beans is designed to work with any vendor's Java development tools, and will also be integrated tightly with tools such as Java(TM) Studio(TM) from SunSoft (see separate GemStone press release, "GemStone Announces Support for SunSoft's JavaBeans(TM) Component Assembly Environments.")

"GemStone has dedicated more than 10 years to refining its industry-leading, enterprise-class object server technology and brings a proven, scaleable, mature product to market," said Bryan Grummon, president and CEO of GemStone. "We envision GemStone/J playing a major role in enabling corporations to adopt Java as their language of choice for Object/Web computing solutions. Creating a scaleable object infrastructure is the hard part of enterprise Web computing, and GemStone has that piece handled."

"What we are seeing in the Java world is nothing short of a revolution in the way applications are constructed and deployed," Grummon continued. "Java and JavaBeans are poised to deliver on the promise of application frameworks and application development through component assembly for corporate intranets. GemStone provides the industrial-strength backbone necessary to deploy these component-based applications on an enterprise scale."

Industry Leaders Endorse GemStone

"GemStone supports Sun's mission to take Java to the corporate enterprise," said Dr. Lew Tucker, director of Corporate and ISV Relations at JavaSoft, a business unit of Sun Microsystems, Inc. "GemStone is a leader in the object technology market, and provides the kind of functionality companies need to develop large-scale enterprise applications using Java."

"Creating effective enterprise applications for the future requires distributed, scaleable transaction services which can be concurrently shared," said Marty Cagan, director of ISV Evangelism for Netscape. "The total information system needs to provide not only seamless Internet access, mail, conference and calendar services to large numbers of universal clients, but also access to mission-critical business applications as well. Netscape recognizes the critical role which multi-user Java server technology like GemStone/J can play in enabling these transactional enterprise business applications."

GemStone for Java: The First Enterprise Java Solution

GemStone/J and GemBuilder/J for Beans provide an end-to-end Java environment for deploying commercial enterprise-class applications that need to support large numbers of Java client applications, involve complex distributed object models, and require open access to other client/server and legacy applications and databases. GemStone/J's architecture provides a collection of application, transaction and enterprise integration services. It is built around a Java engine comprised of transactional Java VMs and a shared object management system capable of supporting thousands of users sharing millions of objects. In addition, GemStone/J and GemBuilder/J for Beans include a collection of tools and interfaces to accelerate the development of three-tier Java applications.

GemStone/J's High-Performance Server Engine

GemStone/J's unique advantage in the Java server market is its sophisticated deployment engine that integrates GemStone's transactional Java Virtual Machines, called GemStone Java VMs, with GemStone/J's shared object management. In support of multiple GemStone Java VMs, GemStone/J's architecture includes a transaction manager, a distributed background garbage collector, and an object repository.

The GemStone Java VM is built by GemStone for server-centric applications. In contrast to typical Java VMs that are designed for single-user, memory-based lightweight applications, the GemStone Java VM and object management system has been engineered for heavy-weight multi-user applications involving heavy computational demands and disk-based object access. The GemStone Java VM is fully Java compliant and runs any 100% pure Java application. It is based on JavaSoft's Java Development Kit(TM) (JDK(TM)) 1.1.

GemStone/Services for Enterprise Applications

GemStone/J's complete set of services falls into three general categories. These categories are application services such as large collections and notification, shared object services such as object transaction services and replication, and enterprise integration services that provide connectivity between the application tier and client and data tiers.

-- Application Services provide the necessary software for distributing an application in an Object/Web computing architecture. These include large collection services, persistence, notification and signaling, authentication, and naming.

-- Shared Object Services provide object-level security and locking mechanisms so that developers can ensure transaction integrity among business objects on the object application server. Services include object/relational mapping, logging, backup, recovery and replication. Object-level transaction services, such as those provided by GemStone/J, deliver a higher level of performance, information and data integrity compared to solutions that rely solely on backed databases.

-- Enterprise Integration Services provide connectivity between the application tier where GemStone resides and both client and data tiers. Communication protocols supported by GemStone include Remote Method Invocation (RMI), Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP), Java Database Connection (JDBC), and HTML/HTTP.

Developing Multi-Tier Java Applications

GemStone/J supports a complete development life cycle approach to building three-tier Java enterprise applications. This encompasses object model definition, application development using popular Java development environments (JDEs), such as Java Workshop(TM) or Symantec's Visual Cafe, JavaBeans assembly using products like Java Studio, application partitioning using GemBuilder/J for Beans, and integration with relational and other existing data sources.

A set of Java development tools, such as browsers and debuggers, are bundled with GemStone/J and are used in conjunction with standard JDEs. GemBuilder/J for Beans integrates with JavaBeans component assembly tools, such as SunSoft's Java Studio. It provides the ability to easily partition or split applications into client and server pieces -- all from within the graphical Java Studio environment. GemBuilder/J for Beans provides the facilities necessary for easily managing, maintaining, and optimizing distributed multi-user Java applications.

JavaBeans are Java classes written to conform to a standardized component specification. By accommodating the JavaBeans standard, GemStone can participate in the broadest possible range of Java-based application development projects and environments. For example, developers can leverage components such as JavaSoft's new Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) for integrating with Transaction Monitors and other data sources.

GemStone's Java Deployment Model

Java enterprise applications are based on a three-tier client/server architecture:

-- The client tier consists of a standard Java-enabled browser or Java VM that provides an execution environment for the Java application, typically just the user interface piece. GemBuilder/J for Beans provides the connectivity between the client and the application tier.

-- The GemStone/J server is located in the application tier. The GemStone for Java VM supports execution of the developer's Java server code. Server code accessed by the client can be written as Beans. The GemStone Java VM uses JDBC to acquire data from the data tier, and to place data in the GemStone/J shared object cache using GemStone's object transaction services. The ability to distribute application state and behavior between client and server ensures scaleable performance.

-- The network link between client and server tier is based on TCP/IP and gives the developer several options including RMI, IIOP and HTTP.

Object/Web Computing for the Enterprise with Java

GemStone and the vast majority of industry analysts and IT organizations within Global 2000 companies contend that the future of enterprise application development centers on distributed object computing, the Java programming language, and the Internet. This Object/Web architecture consists of thin clients and robust object application servers with integration with existing client/server and legacy data and applications.

As a result of this computing model gaining pre-eminence, the Java-based application server is emerging as a new category of product. Widespread adoption of the Object/Web architecture will depend on the availability of industrial-strength Java servers. With its extensive experience in helping Global 2000 companies deploy three-tier object applications, GemStone brings a proven scaleable architecture to the Java market, and will play a key role in the adoption of Java and Object/Web computing for corporate intranets.

Pricing and Availability

GemStone/J and GemBuilder/J for Beans will ship at the end of Q2 1997. Prices start at $4,995 for a single GemStone/J development seat, and $1,000 for deployment licenses.

GemStone Background

GemStone Systems, Inc. is a major provider of object application server software enabling corporations to create information systems for competitive advantage. Its products and services enable the development of enterprise-class information systems incorporating open technologies such as Java, the Web and CORBA. GemStone customers in the Global 2000 are using the company's products to implement business applications deployed in mission critical environments using multi-tier architectures that integrate with corporate data in relational and legacy systems. GemStone provides technical services directly as well as through its GemSmith(TM) partners.

Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, GemStone sells and supports its solutions worldwide maintaining offices in the U.S., internationally with subsidiaries in the UK, Germany and France, and through a network of distributors. GemStone Systems, Inc. is located at 20575 N.W. von Neumann Dr., Beaverton, OR 97006. Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]; Web site: http://www.gemstone.com . -0-

GemStone is a registered trademark of GemStone Systems, Inc. All other trade names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: KVO Public Relations or GemStone Systems

Jennifer Guimond Brian Edwards

503/221-2335 503/533-3577

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