A version of Web Logic Server that includes Liquid VM - a BEA-specific JVM - is on its way in the first half of 2007, says Guy Churchward, vice president and general manager of the Java Runtime Products Group at BEA.

 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 Virtual Edition (WLS-VE) is the first product on the BEA virtualization roadmap to be launched. It 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, says BEA, 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," adds Churchward.