Java Platform as a Service (PaaS) company CloudBees has announced the availability of new developer-focused services to customize its platform and streamline application deployments across user-defined runtimes.
The new services being introduced are called ClickStarts and ClickStacks.
ClickStarts is a single-click tool to create and deploy a running application that builds from source. It is engineered with continuous integration and deployment functions at its heart and connects to other hosted services. ClickStacks, on the other hand, is designed to allow programmers to customize CloudBees runtimes and compose new runtimes on which applications run.
Developers can create their own ClickStarts and ClickStacks, or use and modify those provided by CloudBees to get up and running with a working application that uses languages and frameworks including Scala, Spring, Clojure, Sencha Touch, JAX-RS, Backbone.js, and Grails.
The company explains that these CloudBees Platform enhancements are driven by the recognition that today's cloud application platforms must adapt quickly to a host of new requirements resulting from "increasing sophistication" in cloud applications and cloud application development.
CloudBees has taken a few pot shots at Oracle's stewardship of the Java, saying that "traditional platforms" like Java EE have "not kept pace" with the new dynamic execution environments of the cloud. With this week's JavaOne conference though, we do know that Java EE 7 is targeted for release in the second quarter of 2013 and is planned to include many "much needed" new features.
Regardless, CloudBees says that a modern cloud platform must add value and convenience in a world where backend application services and APIs are exploding and that this is especially important in mobile applications, where enterprises want control over access to private data and developers want to easily integrate with services and existing assets.
"The aPaaS market is new. All offerings on the market will undergo architectural changes during the next three years, with potential resulting discontinuities in programming frameworks and platform characteristics," said Yefim Natis, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner Research. "Traditional platforms will need to change to deliver the cloud requirements of elastic scalability, multi-tenancy, continuous versioning, and global 24/7 access to services. Choose an aPaaS with these capabilities in mind to aim for both immediate benefits and long-term viability in your chosen cloud platform."
"The cloud is challenging developers' traditional expectation of 'platform' in new ways every day. Developers need a platform that gets them up and going even more quickly with rapidly changing technologies and frameworks," said Steven Harris, senior vice president of products, CloudBees. "ClickStarts bring the developer experience to an entirely new level in terms of time-to-productivity, and together with ClickStacks, open the fully managed CloudBees Platform so that it can be shaped and customized to meet the most demanding requirements of complex applications."
