J2EE Start-Ups Seek Channel Partners

Palo Alto, Calif.-based AltoWeb this week plans to announce the first 15 integrators to join its new partner program, said Ali Kutay, AltoWeb's president and CEO and the former CEO of WebLogic, which BEA Systems acquired in 1998.

AltoWeb's end-to-end production environment, the AltoWeb Application Platform, automates much of the coding and processes required to build J2EE apps on top of application servers, Kutay said.

Meanwhile, start-up Wakesoft plans to sell 90 percent of its product via partners, said CEO Mark DeVries.

The San Francisco-based company offers the Architecture Server, a reusable collection of frameworks for building J2EE applications.

J2EE has taken off as a platform for building and deploying enterprise-scale Java applications and Web services, solution providers said. But they noted that J2EE is difficult for basic Java developers to navigate, making it cost-prohibitive for smaller companies.

App server vendors such as BEA also are building tools to make J2EE development easier.

"It's hard to get people who really do know how to put a J2EE app together on a large scale. You have to be through at least one major product that succeeded before you can do it right," said Mark Thomsen, co-founder of integrator Alodar Systems, Torrance, Calif.

"Every time you do a Web application, you end up doing the same pieces over and over again," said Dan Lange, enterprise Java solutions practice manager at Cincinnati-based integrator Cardinal Solutions Group.

While some of the new products to speed J2EE development have "steep learning curves," they are easy to use after some training and can help developers create better applications, Lange said.