VMforce: Salesforce and VMware launch cloud platform for Java developers

The goal of a new partnership between Salesforce.com and VMware is a development platform that the companies say six million Java programmers can use to write applications in the cloud without having to purchase and manage software and servers themselves. The developers place special emphasis on the 2 million users of Spring, a Java application framework. This is no surprise since VMware acquired SpringSource, the company behind the framework, in 2009. A developer preview of VMforce, as the joint project is called, is expected in the second half of 2010. Prices are also expected to be announced then.

VMforce consists of various technologies and services from the two companies, including Spring Framework, which is popular in Java development, and SpringSource tc Server, a variety of the Tomcat servlet container configured for virtualisation and cloud environments. In addition, there are VMware‘s vCloud for cloud management, the vSphere virtualisation platform, and such services from the .Force.com platform as Chatter and a relational database.

VMforce is to run on Force.com so that developers can integrate specially prepared business services, such as searches, reporting, and analysis, in their applications. Salesforce's cloud platform also serves as the cloud computing infrastructure. The SpringSource Tool Suite (STS) is an Eclipse-powered development environment. Because it's based on the Salesforce platform, VMforce is expected to comply with IT security standards such as ISO 27001, SysTrust and SAA70 Type II; via Spring Framework, it will also support standardised Java technologies, such as Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs), JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Java servlets.

The partnership between the two firms could produce a serious alternative to IBM and Oracle's current and future Java cloud applications. Up to now, Salesforce.com used its own Java technologies and Apex, a programming language similar to C#. This new partnership with VMware will put the firm in the spotlight for a number of Java developers who use Spring Framework as a "lightweight" solution. Salesforce.com says that, unlike Google‘s App Engine, VMforce focuses mainly on enterprise applications.

See also:

• VMforce Provides Spring Cloud Platform, a SpringSource blog post by Rod Johnson.
• VMforce: Broad-Spectrum Choice in the Cloud, a SalesForce blog post by Peter Coffee.
• Salesforce.com and VMware Form Strategic Alliance to Launch VMforce, the World’s First Enterprise Java Cloud, press release from VMware.

(crve)