SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BEA Systems , a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, today announced the delivery of BEA Virtualization 2.0 -- the completion of BEA's Java application virtualization offering. BEA Virtualization 2.0 includes WebLogic Server Virtual Edition (WLS VE) and is designed to allow enterprise Java applications to run as self-contained software appliances on hypervisor-based virtualization platforms, and WebLogic Operations Control (WLOC), which is designed to address the key challenges involved in application virtualization by providing policy-based monitoring of application service level agreements (SLAs) and automating dynamic deployment and provisioning of application resources to help ensure service-level objectives are met. With the release of BEA Virtualization 2.0, capable of running the largest enterprise mission-critical Java applications, BEA is also extending support to include WebLogic Server 10.0 and BEA's WebLogic Portal product bringing Java virtualization to a larger group of potential users.

"BEA has historically been on the cutting edge of application infrastructure and we recognize enterprise application virtualization is a key objective for many of our customers," said Guy Churchward, Vice President, Java Runtime Products, BEA Systems. "If SOA is about making IT more responsive to the business, then virtualization can make IT more flexible and cost- effective, and our keen focus is on how customers can manage virtualized applications in the virtual data center of the future."

"IDC has found two major benefits associated with the virtualization of system resources: cost benefits and greater flexibility in managing systems. Because of these benefits, in some cases, virtualized systems are becoming the standard deployment platform for all new applications in a customer's environment. IDC research indicates that server utilization averages between 5% and 25% in most situations on x86 hardware, which means that 75% to 95% of the capacity is unused." Source: IDC White Paper sponsored by BEA, "Liquid Computing for a Dynamic Datacenter," Doc # 207369, June 2007

This finding, combined with the fact that many customers still run their applications on dedicated servers, underscores the reality that many customers have dramatically over-provisioned their hardware resources. Virtualization is a means to increase utilization by consolidating multiple applications on a single host so that capital costs can be reduced as server hardware is used more efficiently. This is one of the major reasons that most customers initially started to virtualize their servers. From an operational perspective, virtualization is impacting costs in a few ways.

Hypervisor-based virtualization platforms can allow customers to allocate applications to virtual server resources dynamically -- helping to optimize their physical infrastructure by pooling hardware and storage resources to reduce physical space, ease power and cooling costs and improve application availability.

But having to do that manually is expensive. BEA WebLogic Operations Control is designed to allow customers to automate those operations, helping to cut costs and make IT more responsive by centralizing governance and control over Java applications, including dynamic activation to meet ever- changing mission-critical business demands.

BEA WebLogic Operations Control is designed to enable customers to manage both virtualized and non-virtualized Java deployments. There are two components to the WLOC software: the controller and agents. The controller maintains a secure repository of service deployments and SLA policies that are monitored by the appliance. Agents manage the virtualized or non-virtualized resources that make up the application domain. This function is not limited to WLS VE and can include non BEA Java virtual appliances running on hypervisor-based virtualization platforms. Both the controller and agents are built using BEA's micro Services Architecture (mSA), an OSGi based framework that can provide for a lightweight modular assembly of software services.

BEA WebLogic Operations Control is a key component in BEA's vision for a flexible dynamic architecture for enterprise Java virtualization. Features include:

-- Efficiency -- Hypervisor virtualization technology can help allow organizations to increase utilization through server consolidation and can reduce data center operating costs and increase the flexibility and responsiveness of their IT operations -- Simplicity -- Pre-configured software appliances (such as BEA's WebLogic Server Virtual Edition) are designed to remove installation and configuration complexity, reduce software administration costs and speed up provisioning and deployment activities -- Control -- Dynamic, policy-based resource allocation to applications and services, based on run-time behavior and application response monitoring can automate data center operations and perform real-time optimization of deployment architectures.

If you would like more information about BEA WebLogic Operations Control, please go to: http://www.bea.com/framework.jsp?CNT=index.jsp&FP=/content/products/weblogic/l iquid_control/

If you would like to know more about how customers are managing virtualization, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4shOXvWhS4&feature=PlayList&p=7F88CC1283D06BC6 &index=2

If you would like to know more BEA Virtualization 2.0 please go to: http://www.bea.com/virtualization

About BEA

BEA Systems, Inc. is a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software. Information about how BEA helps customers build a Liquid Enterprise(TM) that transforms their business can be found at bea.com.

CONTACT: Mary Jo Rose, Director, Corporate Communications of BEA
Systems, +1-408-570-8543, mrose@bea.com

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