Borland Licenses .Net Framework for .Net Development Platform

Following that announcement on Tuesday, 20-year-old Scotts Valley-based Borland said it plans to begin shipping a .Net development platform and suite of .Net solutions in mid-2003 that embeds the .Net Framework. Borland previewed its planned development studio for .Net last April at Microsoft Tech Ed.

"With Microsoft, we're the first and only company to license [the .Net Framework] and have toolsets for .Net going forward," said Dale Fuller, president and CEO of Borland, during the company's year-end and quarterly earnings call on Tuesday. "We are the only provider of open multiplatform [tools] for Java [and] Linux, and now we're the first to .Net."

In an interview with CRN following the earnings report, Simon Thornhill, Borland's chief Rapid Application Development executive, declined to specify the components planned for the .Net development environment but noted that the company's licensing of the .Net Framework and plans to redistribute it within its own platform will be a major convenience for corporate customers.

"There will be a complete new set of tools for handling the .Net development life cycle," said Thornhill, noting Borland will offer professional, enterprise and architect versions. "We'll provide solutions for .Net, and we want to provide access to the platform. By including the .Net redistributable, it means customers won't have to go buy a Microsoft product, or download it, package it and deploy it to desktops. It's a major developer advantage."

In addition, Borland's acquisition of BoldSoft last October will enhance its .Net story. Some aspects of the BoldSoft technology for .Net currently reside within Borland's Delphi 7 environment, released last August, including the ability for developers to migrate applications from Delphi to .Net. By using the Delphi compiler, for example, applications can be built using the .Net Framework along with the Delphi language.

Thornhill said BoldSoft's modeling capabilities will replace the Rational Rose modeling features in the company's former Enterprise Studio for Windows product, which was pulled from Borland's lineup following IBM's acquisition of Rational Software in December.

"Enterprise Studio for Windows included Rational Rose as modeling and certainly, we decided to take it out of the market," Thornhill said. "Delphi 7 has a model maker and tight integration using BoldSoft to take modeling to your app. The BoldSoft technology is in the Delphi product and will be in a new suite of products for .Net," Thornhill added.

Despite the big push on .Net Tuesday, and recent rumors about Microsoft's potential interest in buying the company, Borland executives insisted the company will remain independent and will continue offering development tools for Java and Linux, including JBuilder 8 for J2EE and a Kylix 3 upgrade for Linux, which were released during the fourth quarter of 2002. Borland is also a lead participant in Eclipse, a project to develop an open source Integrated Development Environment for Linux.

IBM said Rational, historically a close Microsoft partner, will continue to offer advanced toolsets for both .Net and Java, but not all in the industry are convinced.

In the meantime, Borland plans to make a big bet on .Net as it continues developing Java and Linux tools.

Taking a swipe at IBM's acquisition of Rational, Fuller said Borland's neutral approach makes it unique among tools vendors.

"We're the only company that gives freedom to customers who don't want to be locked into any one platform," said Fuller. "A lot of Rational customers have switched because they don't want to be locked into IBM WebSphere and have really been locked into an IBM-only platform. This year, in 2003, we are the Switzerland of software [tools]."

In other news, Borland reported on Tuesday 10 percent growth in revenue during its fiscal year 2002 to $245 million, with revenue rising 14 percent during its fourth fiscal quarter that also ended Dec. 31.

During the quarter, for instance, Borland closed one deal worth more than $1 million, three deals in the $500,000 to $1 million range and several deals in the $100,000 to $300,000 range. As it focuses more intensely on the enterprise market, the tools company has signed major new deals with Raytheon, Fujitsu, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Cisco Systems, Nokia, AT&T Wireless, AG Edwards and PepsiCo, executives added.

The company's Java business represented 38 percent of revenue during both the fiscal fourth quarter and 2002 fiscal year. Borland's Rapid Application Development business represented 19 percent of total 2002 fourth-quarter revenue and 24 percent of 2002 annual revenue. RAD products include Borland Delphi, C++Builder, Enterprise Studio for Windows and Kylix. Professional services--up 19 percent during the fourth fiscal quarter--now represent 16 percent of Borland's total revenue.

Fuller noted that revenue from .Net has only begun to show up on the fiscal radar, but he expects Borland's forthcoming .Net lineup to drive long-term growth for the company.

Microsoft executives were not available to comment on speculation that it might potentially buy Borland. However, a Microsoft spokeswoman said the deal is not exclusive. Microsoft is pleased Borland is licensing the technology but is open to licensing it to other ISVs, the spokeswoman added.

Any developer can download the .Net Framework from Microsoft's site. Executives claim there have been 14 million downloads since the .Net Framework appeared almost a year ago.