IBM has announced the latest release of WebSphere Liberty, its Java application server solution. The company says WebSphere Liberty 18.0.0.2 is the most significant functional release in years, and comes with the first compliant Java Enterprise Edition (EE) 8 runtime.
“Over the past 22 years, Java has remained a top programming language, and it continues to rapidly evolve for the cloud-native era. IBM is committed to staying at the forefront of Java development so that our clients benefit from the very latest Java EE and Spring technology updates,” Denis Kennelly, GM of cloud integration at IBM, wrote in a post.
WebSphere Liberty is based on the open source Open Liberty project, IBM’s biggest open source contribution to date, the company explained. “It brings together the latest Java EE and MicroProfile technologies to provide a robust foundation for customers who want to build cloud-native applications,” Kennelly wrote. “Open Liberty forms the open source foundation on which IBM WebSphere Liberty is built.”
The latest release features the most recent Java EE 8 technologies and MicroProfile features. “These technologies, hosted in source form in GitHub and delivered as part of WebSphere Liberty 18.0.0.2, are designed to help clients rapidly transform critical businesses applications in line with new market opportunities. We are also announcing that we have become the first vendor to pass the Java EE 8 compatibility tests, certifying WebSphere Liberty ahead of anyone else,” Kennelly explained.
In addition, Kennelly announced as part of the transition to a cloud native era, the company is launching a series of developer guides on the Open Liberty website. The guide will provide an intro to Java EE and MicroProfile features, provide sample code, and give developers new ways to build microservices and cloud native solutions.
Open Liberty is also being updated with more support for Spring Apps. “Reducing deployment sizes and times when running Spring in Docker containers has been a hot topic in the Spring community. With new tooling in Liberty 18.0.0.2, we’ve provided the first supported path to enable Spring applications to take advantage of the inherent layering that containers provide,” Kennelly wrote.
