JBoss AS7 is final! This release comes with built-in OSGi support, achieved through implementing the OSGi 4.2 core specification. JBoss AS7 is also Java EE6 Web Profile compliant. It supports Java Context and Dependency Injection, and includes a modular service container and domain model, which allows the system to run on small devices. This replaces the micro containers of JBoss 5 and JBoss 6. AS7 also implements the open source Arquillian project.

At his blog, Mark Little, lead of JBoss technical direction, calls this release a highpoint in his career, but states that it wasn’t an easy release:

“It’s taken us a while to get here and we’ve taken some pretty drastic and innovative steps along the way. Sometimes those decisions haven’t been ease to make and we’ve thought long and hard about them. For instance, I recall Jason Greene, Scott Stark and I discussing for ages the various ramifications of continuing with the then current micro container architecture versus radical changes. The decision to change wasn’t easy, but even then well over a year ago, we believed it was the right one to make. And now, with the new micro services container, it’s proven itself! Some risks are worth taking.”

He also calls JBoss AS7 “the fastest, most configurable and adaptable EE6 implementation (Web Profile) out there.”

The AS7.1 will released later this year, and will be fully certified for EE6.