Mainsoft's Visual MainWin For J2EE Opens The J2EE Platform to Visual Basic .NET and C# Developers

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 16, 2004--

Visual Studio(R) .NET-Integrated Development Environment A Cost-Effective Solution to the J2EE Platform Productivity Crisis

“Visual MainWin is playing an integral role in the evolution of the Java platform by broadening the J2EE platform into a multilingual platform for Web applications and Web services”

Mainsoft Corporation (www.mainsoft.com), the cross-platform development company, today unveiled Visual MainWin(R) for the J2EE(TM) platform, the first application development tool that enables millions of Visual Studio(R) developers to create Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE(TM)) enterprise Web applications and Web services within the Visual Studio(R) .NET framework. Selected to debut at the prestigious DEMO 2004 conference, Visual MainWin resolves the acute productivity and resource challenges of developing enterprise applications for industry-leading J2EE servers. Mainsoft opens the previously single-language Java(TM) platform to C# and Visual Basic(R) .NET, two of today's fastest growing programming languages.

"Conflicting software standards for developing and deploying the next generation of enterprise applications and Web services -- Microsoft's .NET and J2EE from Sun, along with IBM and BEA standards -- are inflating development costs and driving productivity losses in medium- and large-scale enterprises," said Mark Driver, vice president and research director, The Gartner Group. "What is needed are technology solutions that enables Visual Studio developers to easily create applications for the Java platform. Until now, software developers have had limited success bridging the .NET /J2EE divide."

Visual MainWin allows IT organizations to make deployment decisions based on their business needs rather than resource constraints. Enterprise CIOs with Visual Studio developers can tap into the scalability and flexibility of the J2EE application servers without replacing or attempting to retrain these developers. Large-scale IT organizations with both .NET and Java developers can accelerate the development process significantly by co-developing enterprise-class applications and Web services using Visual MainWin.

"Visual MainWin is playing an integral role in the evolution of the Java platform by broadening the J2EE platform into a multilingual platform for Web applications and Web services," said Yaacov Cohen, president and CEO of Mainsoft Corporation. "By opening the J2EE platform to three million C# and Visual Basic .NET developers, we offer medium- and large-scale enterprise IT departments a practical solution to the acute J2EE platform productivity and resource crises."

The Technology Solution

Visual MainWin introduces a patent pending technology that compiles the Microsoft(R) Intermediate Language (MSIL) source code directly into standard Java bytecode. For the first time, enterprises can use Visual Basic .NET and C# developers to rapidly develop Web applications for the J2EE platform. Visual MainWin preserves the complete Visual Studio developer experience, allowing developers to develop, run, debug and deploy their code directly within the Visual Studio system. Because the output is fully compliant with the J2EE platform standards, Visual MainWin application can be deployed and managed as any standard J2EE application.

IT organizations with both .NET and Java developers can accelerate the development of enterprise-class applications and Web services significantly by co-developing multi-tiered applications. Visual Basic .NET and C# developers rapidly create the front-end of the application in Visual Studio, while Java developers provide the back-end business logic and J2EE components. Visual MainWin bridges the technology gap, enabling Visual Studio, Visual Basic .NET or C# developers to easily access Enterprise JavaBeans(TM) (EJBs(TM)).

"Mainsoft has created an innovative solution for IT organizations struggling with conflicting development standards," said Chris Shipley, DEMO executive producer. "Visual MainWin enables organizations to accelerate application development by using their resources more efficiently."

Bridging the Technology Gap

For more than a decade, Mainsoft has extended the productivity of the Visual Studio environment to multiple platforms, helping many of the world's largest independent software vendors resolve their most pressing cross platform development issues. Responding to growing customer concerns about J2EE development, Mainsoft identified the opportunity to extend the productivity of Visual Studio to the J2EE platform. Since 2001, the company has drawn upon its years of experience working with Microsoft developers, its deep expertise in bridging between the Windows(R) and UNIX(R) operating systems, its memberships in the European Computer Manufacturing Association (ECMA) and the MONO open-source project to create a unique development solution that bridges the .NET and J2EE platforms.

The Business Need

While CIOs tend to favor the J2EE platform to deploy large-scale enterprise applications, the resource and workflow challenges of developing Java applications are significant. According to The Gartner Group, the growing demand for large-scale J2EE projects far outpaces the availability and skills of J2EE developers and the gap will continue to grow for the next three to four years. The fact that most enterprise IT departments employ a large staff of Visual Basic developers who are not familiar with the J2EE design patterns and programming model compounds resource issues. These large IT organizations replace their Microsoft developers or outsource portions of their development projects. However, both strategies carry hidden costs and inevitably result in productivity losses. Others attempt to transform their Microsoft-centric development staff into a highly skilled J2EE development team. This, too, is an expensive and risky venture. It requires changing the development team's methodology, workflow, and development culture, and there is no guarantee the transformation will be successful.

"Leveraging common skills and code between .NET and J2EE is a promising, cost-effective approach to resolving the developer productivity challenges," said Driver.

About DEMO 2004

The annual DEMO and DEMOmobile conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected by executive producer Chris Shipley from across the spectrum of the personal technology marketplace. Top executives from the leading hardware and software technology companies, venture capitalists, journalists from key industry publications and industry analysts attend the DEMO and DEMOmobile conferences to preview the most promising products and technologies for the coming year. DEMO is held in February each year and features approximately 60 new companies, products and technologies. DEMOmobile is held each fall and features approximately 35 new mobile technologies. For more information, visit http://www.demo.com/.

About Mainsoft Corporation

Founded in 1993, Mainsoft Corporation, the cross-platform development company, enables businesses to develop mission-critical applications with Visual Studio software and deploy them natively on the J2EE, UNIX and Linux(R) platforms, dramatically reducing development costs and time-to-market. The company is a first-mover in cross-platform development. Its world-class research and development team has created patented cross-platform products that solve critical problems facing independent software vendors (ISVs) and IT organizations. Many of the world's largest independent software vendors (ISVs), including Siebel, Computer Associates and IBM Rational, use Mainsoft's products to extend the productivity of Microsoft Visual Studio, deploying more than $1 billion worth of software annually on multiple operating systems. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the company has 90 employees and offices in Chicago and Israel. For more information, visit www.mainsoft.com.

Mainsoft and MainWin are registered trademarks of Mainsoft Corporation. Microsoft, Visual Basic, Visual Studio, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Java, J2EE, Enterprise JavaBeans and EJB are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company Ltd. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other company and product names may be the subject of intellectual property rights reserved by third parties.