Sampaleanu was one of two Interface21 architects who gave a talk at BEAWorld on using Spring JavaBeans in WebLogic Server 9.0.

He noted that BEA and Interface21 are collaborating to support Spring in the WebLogic server environment.

"The collaboration basically consists of BEA endorsing the use of Spring Framework on [WebLogic Server], BEA offering 24x7 support for Spring in that environment, and also additional code by both of us to ensure that Spring can take advantage of all the advanced functionality in a WebLogic environment," Sampaleanu said.

BEA Monday announced that its WebLogic server platform will support Spring, along with other open-source frameworks and application servers such as Apache Beehive, Apache XMLBeans, Tomcat and the Eclipse Web Tools Platform.

Read more here about BEA Systems' new WebLogic Real-Time Edition.

"BEA is trying to be a valuable player on top of open source," which will benefit BEA as well as the open-source community, Sampaleanu said.

"The integration of Spring Framework with WebLogic will allow us to get into some environments that would not otherwise consider us," he said.

The Spring connection will allow also BEA to gain some additional customers and retain others who want to work with Spring, he said. Some companies wouldn't commit to working with open source unless it were endorsed in some definite way by a major technology company like BEA Systems, he said.

The Service Bus component of the BEA AquaLogic platform "should be a very attractive offering" because it will provide a good technology foundation for SOA components and applications, said Gang Tong, a Web application architect with Avaya Inc. in Basking Ridge, N.J.

The AquaLogic Service Bus is BEA implementation of Enterprise Service Bus that enables applications to access data from multiple databases and lets developers build links between multiple disparate applications.

Tong said he believes the Service Bus would be an effective way to build point-to-point connections between applications in SOA.

"With the service bus as an intermediator" it will make the connections between application components and data sources more transparent and easier to program, he said. And, he added, if it works as promised, it could help speed up the adoption of SOA in the marketplace.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.