News
Macromedia MX set to run on key J2EE servers
- By Jack Vaughan
- May 6, 2002
(May 6, 2002) Multimedia and Web design toolmaker Macromedia moved deeper into
the enterprise application development business with the recent unveiling of
the Macromedia MX family of client, tool and server technologies. Key in the
product set is the new commercial version of "Neo," an advanced ColdFusion
application server acquired by Macromedia as part of its purchase of Allaire
Corp. in 2001.
The product, called ColdFusion MX, links ColdFusion's popular scripting language
with the J2EE environment. Its release is concurrent with Dreamweaver MX, a
toolset that supports Web development using a wide variety of design formats.
"ColdFusion MX will run on popular J2EE application servers, including
our own [JRun]," said Jeremy Allaire, now CTO at Macromedia. He noted that
ColdFusion continues to gain adherents as it allows "rapid server scripting
with the benefits of deploying to any Java app server."
Application server competitor BEA Systems has also began to tout the benefits
of scripting of late, as IT shops struggle to cost-effectively roll out increasingly
complex J2EE apps.
The MX family announcement was accompanied by word that Sun and IBM would both
support ColdFusion MX. For its part, Sun has agreed to work with Macromedia
on the development of ColdFusion MX for the Sun ONE Application Server. The
IBM deal is a strategic relationship in which IBM will resell ColdFusion MX
for IBM WebSphere. Macromedia will also sell the product.
In addition, Macromedia plans to enable its Dreamweaver MX tool to integrate
with IBM's WebSphere Studio development environment via the Eclipse open-source
tools platform.
This will "make it possible for the Macromedia Web developer community
to deploy applications on WebSphere," said John Swainson, general manager,
IBM Application and Integration Software.
About the Author
Jack Vaughan is former Editor-at-Large at Application Development Trends magazine.