The Apache Software Foundation recently announced Apache TomEE v1.0, an updated edition of the popular Apache Tomcat application server suited for the cloud.

Apache TomEE is the Java Enterprise Edition 6 Web Profile-Certified edition of Apache Tomcat, the most popular Java application server software, with more than 70 percent market penetration within the enterprise.

A sub-project of Apache OpenEJB, TomEE adds Java Enterprise Edition features to the latest version of Apache Tomcat, v7.0.27, which was released April 5. TomEE runs without any additional memory requirements, is compatible with most Tomcat-aware/tested tools and applications.

"Apache TomEE makes developing Java EE solutions easy and simple," David Blevins, vice president of Apache OpenEJB, said in a statement. "TomEE is the closest and shortest jump for anyone with a Tomcat stack using any number of Java EE technologies to finally move to a Java EE 6 Web Profile-certified platform that offers great freedom in the cloud."

According to the latest Gartner report on cloud innovation in application platforms, "Through 2017, at least 70 percent of new Java EE applications will be deployed on an open-source Java application server ¦ OSS application servers primarily (but not exclusively) from Apache ¦ will continue to dominate small-scale Java EE deployments."

Coupling ongoing industry demand for Apache Tomcat-based solutions with the recent spike in Java EE useparticularly in Cloud environmentsstandards-based solutions play an increasingly important role in addressing concerns with vendor lock-in. Apache TomEE provides a new choice for the millions of developers wanting a standards-based solution for the Cloud while retaining Tomcat, and the technology is especially performant in very tiny machines.

Apache TomEE combines several Java enterprise projects, including Apache OpenEJB, Apache OpenWebBeans, Apache OpenJPA and Apache MyFaces, among others, and obtained its Java EE 6 Web Profile certification on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in October 2011.

"For I Like Places, Enterprise Java was a big bet, mainly because the servers alone can kill a startup due to the costs they incur, said Ravindranath Akila, founder of Adimpression, in a statement. Added to this is the learning curve involved with Java EE. The irony is that none of these mattered because of Apache TomEE; it is so lightweight, lightning fast, and loves the Cloud. Were absolute fans."

The project features a low memory footprint and extensive performance improvements on large applications, yielding 100 percent to 300-plus percent faster startup times over earlier versions:

Railo 3.3 Custom (44mb WAR): 21.3 percent of beta2 startup time (369 percent faster);

Lift/Scala sample app (23mb WAR): 43.8 percent of beta2 startup time (128 percent faster); and

Confluence 3.5.5 (149mb unpacked): 37.6 percent of beta2 startup time (166 percent faster).

"We have been working closely with Apache TomEE over the last few months in preparation for becoming the first TomEE hosting provider on our 100 percent Java cloud platform, said Neale Rudd, director of Metawerx. We are pleased to expand our offering to include TomEE, whose low overhead offers a more affordable option than other JavaEE app servers. So far, we've seen performance improvements over 3x in application startup times and a series of code changes that confirm their pledge to being a lean, 100 percent Java EE 6-certified container while coping with the extra burden of a do-no-harm promise in regards to running standard Tomcat apps. Congratulations on v1.0."

"The strength of TomEE is the sum of its community membersthe value in feedback provided by an ISP that supports many applications is immeasurable, Blevins said in a statement. We appreciate the excellent testing feedback received from Metawerx and encourage other Apache Tomcat hosting facilities to work with us as they add TomEE to their lineup. TomEE is a natural fit for Tomcat-focused ISPs as they now have a Java EE option that naturally fits with their existing infrastructure."

The Project invites any ISPs seeking to expand their services by including TomEE to email the developer list at <[email protected]> for more information.