Inprise/Borland To Ship Version 4 Of JBuilder

Though some were leaving Inprise/Borland for dead a few months ago, the tool company is proving again that it is alive and kicking.

After returning to profitability with second-quarter earnings in July, Inprise, based here, plans to unveil Tuesday Version 4 of its JBuilder Java Tool.

There are several new features to the tool that will hasten the development of Java-based Web apps and encourage group development, says Jurgen Fesslmeier, product manager for JBuilder.

Inprise also has built a new technology into the tool -- Internet Beans Express -- that bridges a crucial gap between the development of the presentation layer of an application and the back-end Java code, says Fesslmeier.

"You get HTML content from the designer, and the developer would actually take the content and use Internet Beans to fill in data to the HTML page," says Fesslmeier. "In the past, it would have been much more difficult to do this."

Fesslmeier says JBuilder also supports Inprise's proprietary Java application server and BEA Systems' WebLogic platform, as well as other application servers compliant with Sun's J2EE standard -- the de facto standard on which to build enterprisewide Java applications.

In mid-July, CRN reported that Inprise/Borland could be on the rocks after months of waffling on its product strategy and a failed merger attempt with Corel.

At the time, Mark Driver, research director at GartnerGroup, suggested Inprise/Borland would be lucky if someone would acquire it and put the company out of its misery.

"They've been about to go under and the target of acquisition for years," Driver told CRN in July. "They're floundering; they're looking for a way out."

But second-quarter earnings proved the company was showing its characteristic never-say-die pluck.

The release of a new version of JBuilder -- arguably Inprise/Borland's strongest product -- also could boost the company's earnings and credibility.

JBuilder 4 will ship in three editions. The Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition for J2EE Development are scheduled to ship in late September for $999 and $2,999, respectively.

The Foundation Edition is slated to be available for free download in mid-October, and also will sell in retail stores for $49.95 with an instruction manual and an online tutorial.

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