Microsoft hopes to turn up the heat on its Java rivals with plans for new software that could simplify the creation of heavy-duty Web services applications.
The software, code-named Indigo, is the next generation of Microsoft's .Net Web services product. The company is expected to disclose more details at its Professional Developer's Conference in Los Angeles in October.
While Microsoft executives have offered scant information on Indigo, people familiar with the company's plans said the software takes direct aim at IBM, Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems, Oracle and other rivals that sell products based on the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard. Microsoft has made inroads into large corporations with its back-end server software. However, J2EE-based systems are still generally favored by such customers for more complex computing jobs such as running stock exchanges or high-volume Web sites.
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