BEAWORLD 2006, BEIJING, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Further extending its leadership role in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), BEA Systems, Inc. , a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, today announced its ground-breaking entry into the virtualization market accompanied with an aggressive strategy and product roadmap, uniquely aimed at Java environments. The move underscores the growing industry trend of system virtualization, the bundling of software applications with optimized OS functionality to run on hardware-independent virtual infrastructure and thus the decoupling of the software from the hardware through virtualization. Analysts are predicting as much as 40 percent of new server demand to be virtualized by 2010.

BEA's strategy is unique in that it focuses on optimizing Java software in virtualized environments and is based on a two-pronged approach: bottom-up by enabling higher resource utilization and performance at the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) layer when deployed on virtualization-enabled hardware; and top-down by enabling automated provisioning and resource management with adaptive control for enterprise Java applications. This approach towards virtualization is designed to deliver substantial improvements in utilization, performance, and flexibility for Java environments. It can improve utilization by reducing the resources consumed by redundant and unused functionality in the stack and can enhance performance and determinism by removing layers between the application and the "bare metal" of the server. Substantial flexibility can be derived from the ability to decouple application resource requirements from the application itself, resulting in applications that are easily deployed and migrated within virtualized infrastructure.

As part of its virtualization strategy, BEA has unveiled an aggressive product roadmap which includes:

*Liquid VM. A virtualization-optimized Java Virtual Machine that is designed to enable Java apps to run directly on a virtualization layer. Liquid VM today works with the VMware ESX Server hypervisor to run a Java application. Liquid VM goes a step beyond basic virtualization by decreasing the system stack footprint to help enable even greater consolidation. The technology can also help lower deployment and ongoing management time, thus lowering the lifecycle cost per application. Liquid VM is a foundational technology of BEA's virtualization-enabled product offerings and will be initially supported on VMware's ESX Server and the full VMware Infrastructure product line with support for other virtualization technologies to follow. *WebLogic Server(R) Virtual Edition (WLS-VE). Currently scheduled to be available in the first half of CY2007, this is the first product on the roadmap to be launched. WLS-VE is designed to combine the rock-solid foundation of WebLogic Server with BEA's Liquid VM, a virtualization-optimized JVM, and can enable Java applications to run more efficiently on virtualized hardware. This design can improve hardware utilization, which in turn, can lower the hardware costs per application. The software can also make it easier to add hardware resources to a live application, thus allowing the application's capacity to scale with evolving business needs. *WebLogic Liquid Operations Control (WL LOC). Currently scheduled for Summer 2007 availability, LOC is designed to enable management and control of Java applications running on virtualized infrastructure. This can allow handling of Java applications as software "appliances" that can be rapidly provisioned and augmented with processing power and memory in step with evolving needs; policy-driven automation of provisioning tasks; and visibility into runtime behavior of applications. The combination of WL LOC and Liquid VM is designed to extend and integrate existing system-level virtualization offerings by increasing the performance and utilization of Java applications on virtualized hardware, and integrating the resource management and provisioning of the Java and virtualized system-level infrastructure. In addition, WL LOC will provide significant management benefits for all Java applications in a virtualized environment -- not just those running on Liquid VM or WebLogic Server.

"The forthcoming releases of WebLogic Server Virtual Edition and WebLogic Liquid Operations Control are designed to essentially redefine the very core of how application infrastructure interacts with and depend upon the layers below them," said Wai Wong, executive vice president products at BEA. "WLS-VE is designed to effectively eliminate performance overhead, reduce configuration complexity and increase system optimization. These new capabilities can extend WebLogic's leadership role in the market and solidify the product family's position as the foundation for SOA."

Virtualization plays a big part within BEA's "liquid" vision in that the entire strategy is fundamentally about making the relationship between software and hardware more fluid, which can enable greater flexibility in how applications are deployed and migrated within the data center -- from the bottom of the stack and all the way through SOA components and services. BEA's virtualization-optimized solutions can help enable businesses to deploy, scale and migrate software assets rapidly and at lower cost, helping to enable greater flexibility and adaptability. The solutions are a key component of BEA SOA 360, the industry's most unified SOA platform. Announced earlier this year, BEA SOA 360 spans the three BEA product families -- BEA AquaLogic(TM), BEA WebLogic(R), and BEA Tuxedo(R) -- and is designed for business transformation and optimization in order to improve cost structures and grow new revenue streams.

"BEA's virtualization integration showcases the value of deploying applications and middleware as virtual appliances on a distributed, virtualized pool of server, storage, and networking resources, a vision VMware launched in 2006 through http://www.vmtn.net/ and the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace," said Diane Greene, president of VMware. "We are working with BEA to enable BEA's Liquid VM and Liquid Operation Center on our VMware ESX Server hypervisor and with the full capabilities of VMware Infrastructure 3. Our customers stand to benefit from increased Java application utilization and performance, as well as integrated visibility and management of their enterprise Java applications on the VMware virtualization products on which they are standardizing today."

Availability

BEA WebLogic Server -- Virtual Edition will be available in March 2007 and BEA Liquid Operation Control will be available in the summer of 2007.

About BEAWorld

BEAWorld is the premier event for SOA thought leadership and is taking place in three strategic world markets spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia. The conference is designed to provide critical insights, hands on instruction, best practice strategies and opportunities for interaction with like-minded professionals, industry leaders, visionaries and expert practitioners.

In addition to working to help make SOA a successful reality, BEAWorld is the place to find the latest information on BEA's infrastructure technologies including BEA Tuxedo(R), BEA WebLogic, BEA AquaLogic and BEA SOA 360. This year's show will also include a Partner Showcase, highlighting the latest and most innovative developments from the extensive BEA partner community.

The third and final of three worldwide events is scheduled to begin today, Dec. 13 in Beijing. The first two events took place in San Francisco and Prague, Czech Republic earlier this Fall. For more information, visit bea.com/beaworld .

About BEA

BEA Systems, Inc. is a world leader in enterprise and communications infrastructure software. BEA's SOA 360 platform is the industry's most unified SOA platform for business transformation and optimization, in order to improve cost structures and grow new revenue streams. Information about how BEA is enabling customers to achieve Business LiquidITy(TM) can be found at bea.com .

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this press release are forward-looking, including the statements regarding Liquid VM being bundled with BEA's virtualization-enabled product offerings and being targeted to initially support VMware's virtual infrastructure products, the expected release date of its Liquid Operations Control (LOC) product and the ability of the product to provide significant management benefits for all Java applications in a virtualized environment, and the features and the benefits of BEA's products. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially include risks associated with: any unforeseen changes in the technology, standards or marketplace for enterprise information integration software; the timing of a recovery from any economic and IT industry downturn; any unforeseen technical difficulties related to the development BEA's solutions; and any software errors related to BEA's solutions. Readers should also refer to the risk disclosures set forth in BEA's 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2006 as filed with the SEC and subsequent reports filed thereafter by BEA from time-to-time with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and BEA does not assume any obligation to update such statements nor the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those projected in such statements.

NOTE: BEA, Tuxedo, WebLogic, BEA JRockit and BEA WebLogic Server are registered trademarks and BEA WebLogic Enterprise Platform, BEA WebLogic Integration, BEA WebLogic Portal, BEA WebLogic Platform, BEA WebLogic Express, BEA WebLogic Workshop, BEA WebLogic Java Adapter for Mainframe, BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic, BEA eLink, Business LiquidITy and BEA WebLogic Enterprise Security are trademarks of BEA Systems, Inc. All other company and product names may be the subject of intellectual property rights reserved by third parties.

CONTACT: media, Kelly Clarke of BEA Systems, Inc., +1-408-570-8526, or
kclarke@bea.com; or media, Rick Popko of Weber Shandwick Worldwide,
+1-415-248-3414, or rpopko@webershandwick.com, for BEA Systems, Inc.

Web site: http://www.bea.com/