Interface21 Partners with Tasktop to Develop Spring Tool Suite

Leveraging Popular Open Source Mylyn Project, Next-Generation Java Tool Suite Will Provide an End-to-End Solution for Streamlining Enterprise Java Development

SAN FRANCISCO—October 2, 2007—Interface21, a leading provider of trusted open source software for building and deploying mission-critical enterprise applications, today announced that it has partnered with Tasktop Technologies, creators of the Eclipse Mylyn project, to develop the Spring Tool Suite. This new Spring-specific tool solution will build on Eclipse and Mylyn to dramatically reduce the complexity of enterprise Java application development and maintenance.

When used for large enterprise applications, integrated development environments (IDEs) flood developers with tens of thousands of artifacts, wasting productive time by forcing developers to constantly find and identify the information relevant to the task at hand. In addition, the enterprise developer’s IDE consists of many tools that do not provide a unified workflow. While the Spring Framework and Portfolio projects already integrate many key technologies at the framework and library level, there is currently no tool solution that provides Mylyn’s task focus, tool integration, and workflow streamlining benefits to enterprise application developers. Building on the existing success of Eclipse, Mylyn and Spring IDE, the Spring Tool Suite will simplify the large aggregation of tools used to develop complex enterprise Java applications, dramatically reducing information overload and streamlining developer workflow.

The Spring Tool Suite will also offer:

  • support for the latest Spring 2.0 features, including namespace-based configurations;
  • support for Spring Web Flow, including an extension to WTP’s XML editor for content assist, hyperlinking, validation, and graphical editing;
  • tools for Spring AOP based development, including support for validating configurations and visualization of cross cutting references;
  • support for Spring Java configuration.

“Tasktop’s partnership with Interface21 will provide developers with a simpler and more automated way of managing the thousands of artifacts and dozens of tools required for enterprise Java development,” said Mik Kersten, founder of Tasktop Technologies Inc. and technical leader of the Eclipse Mylyn framework. “Now that Mylyn is bundled with Eclipse, many Java developers have already seen the dramatic productivity improvements that its Task-Focused UI provides. However, enterprise application developers work with many artifacts and tools beyond Mylyn’s current reach. Just as the Spring Framework has simplified the implementation of enterprise applications, the Spring Tool Suite will simplify and streamline the development and maintenance of those applications by bringing Mylyn’s task focus to the developer’s entire tool set.”

“Combining Java, declarative XML, AOP, and OSGi, the advanced language mechanisms of the Spring Framework and broader Spring Portfolio already dramatically reduce the complexity of enterprise Java development,” said Rod Johnson, founder and CEO of Interface21. “Combined with Mylyn’s Task-Focused UI, the Spring Tool Suite will give developers even greater ability to seamlessly and effortlessly harness best-of-breed development technologies.”

Availability
The Spring Tool Suite is expected to be available in March 2008. Updates can be found at http://www.interface21.com.

About Interface21
Interface21 is a leading provider of trusted open source software for mission-critical enterprise applications. Interface21 created and sustains the development of the Spring Framework, the leading Java™ and Java EE™ application framework. Through the Spring family of products, Interface21 has helped hundreds of organizations, including some of the world’s largest financial institutions and public sector clients, build and deploy mission-critical applications that boost developer productivity and increase enterprise ROI. For more information, please visit http://www.interface21.com.

About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies created and leads Eclipse Mylyn, an open source tool that transforms the developer’s workday by automatically focusing the development environment on the task at hand. To enable all knowledge workers to benefit from the dramatic productivity improvements cited by developers using Mylyn, Tasktop Technologies is developing the task-focused desktop. Tasktop also provides consulting services to companies extending their offerings to leverage Mylyn’s Task-Focused User Interface. For the beta and more information, please visit http://www.tasktop.com.

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