SAN FRANCISCO—Sybase on May 16 announced Sybase WorkSpace 1.5, a unified Eclipse-based application development environment that offers enhanced design and development tools in an integrated, open-source framework, at the JavaOne conference here.

Sybase WorkSpace combines data development, Web applications and services-oriented development of application and mobile development with enterprise modeling, according to the company. New functionality in Sybase WorkSpace 1.5 includes a Web application development component, increased support for database development and new packaging and licensing.

The new Web application development tooling combines JavaServer Faces with Sybase's patented DataWindow technology, company officials said.

Sybase allows customers to buy only the pieces they need. Sybase WorkSpace 1.5 provides task-based components that can be purchased either individually or as a group.

"Eclipse challenges traditional models of megalithic enterprise development tools, allowing users to adopt more granular tools better aligned to their needs—and this agility is seen by adopters as one of the key advantages of Eclipse," said Carl Zetie, vice president of Forrester Research, in a statement.

"Eclipse has inspired the way Sybase delivers tooling," said Kathleen Schaub, vice president of Sybase's infrastructure platform group, in a statement. "With Sybase WorkSpace 1.5, our customers can now customize their development environment to easily meet their increasingly sophisticated business requirements."

Guru Jakob Nielsen offers advice on designing applications for usability. Click here to watch the video.

Sybase WorkSpace 1.5 is expected to be available in June 2006, company officials said.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.