News

Pegasystems rules engine goes Java

• By Jack Vaughan
• February 18, 2004

Long-time business rules and process management software maker Pegasystems Inc. released its first Java-based platform earlier this month. PegaRules Process Commander V4 supports XML and browser-based development, and JSR-94 and JSR-168 portal plug-in support is also available.

Pegasystems, founded in 1983, began its effort to support Java in the late 1990s. Like others, its developers had to wonder if Java would be fast enough -- compared at least to incumbent C applications -- at executing complex algorithms related to rules calculations. Today, Pegasystems' judgment is that "Java is ready."

"What happened is that the Java VM has improved increasingly," said Paul McNulty, vice president, Pegasystems. "Hardware has improved as well to provide the necessary horsepower. We see no real performance issues with Java any longer," McNulty continued. "And the benefits are significant. You can now run on heterogeneous environments."

Pegasystems' business process management (BPM) solution is based on inference engine technology with roots in the early days of artificial intelligence. The company, situated as it is in Cambridge, Mass.'s Kendall Square near the Charles River, is unique as a survivor. The firm did about $100 million in business last year. With its Java-based platform, it should be able to continue to vie with business rules engines mainstays Ilog, Fair Isaac, Computer Associates and others.