Red Hat submits specifications to put Java EE 7 in the clouds

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Red Hat has submitted specifications for the Java Enterprise Edition 7 framework that it claims bring "consistency, flexibility and portability".

Red Hat's popular Enterprise Linux distribution has seen widespread deployment on servers and workstations around the globe and the firm has always played an active role in the development of the Java EE framework. Now Red Hat is trying to push Java EE 7 into the enterprise realm of platform-as-a-service and cloud deployments.

Red Hat submitted several specifications to the Java community including context and dependency injection and data grids that allow for "cost-effective scaling for the data-tier", a feature that is absolutely vital in cloud deployments. There are also specifications for the validation of Java Beans that Red Hat says will avoid duplication and inconsistencies in Java software programs.

Aside from submitting specifications, Red Hat also said that it is working with others in the Java community on APIs for RESTful web services, the Java Message Service, Server Faces and the Java Content Repository API.

Last week, Red Hat's Gavin King talked about Project Ceylon which had been dubbed the firm's 'Java killer'. From King's presentation it seemed like Red Hat had taken bits of Java and Microsoft's .NET framework to try to get the best of both worlds.

However today, Craig Muzilla, VP and general manager of Middleware Business at Red Hat was all about promoting the firm's stance in the Java world, saying, "Red Hat is committed to an open, community process and we intend to continue to be at the forefront of Java's future."

Even if Red Hat is plotting a successor to Java, it knows that without support for the Java EE framework its Enterprise Linux will suffer massively. With the rise of other languages, Java might be seen as unfashionable, but Red Hat surely must know that it's unlikely to go anywhere for a long time. µ