A startup packing some veteran developer punch is testing integrated Java development and server software that enables corporations to collaboratively author and run Web applications.

SilverStream Software Inc.'s namesake product, written in Java, includes an HTML authoring tool, version control, security services, a distributed Java application development tool and a midtier Web application server, said sources close to the Burlington, Mass., company.

The combination creates a self-contained environment for building Internet or intranet Java applications on the fly, sources said.

Slated to ship in September, SilverStream complements the trend toward middle-tier application servers that host applications with browser front ends that can access information stored in client/server or legacy systems.

But SilverStream, according to users and analysts familiar with the product, goes beyond current server solutions provided by Kiva Software Inc. and NetDynamics Inc., versioning software from the likes of MKS Partners Inc., and integrated tools from Symantec Corp. and Wallop Software Inc.

"Those tools only go so far, and we have to glue the rest together ourselves with other products," said SilverStream alpha tester Jeff Winograd, chief technology officer for Montgomery Securities Inc., in San Francisco.

SilverStream's development and hosting environment comprises a Designer and an Application Server, and resembles Lotus Development Corp.'s Domino server. But rather than building on a native object store, the way Domino does, SilverStream boasts native connections to Oracle Corp., Sybase Inc., Informix Software Inc. and Microsoft Corp. databases.

"What impresses me is that they store everything in a relational database: the structure data, the rich text, everything," said Joseph Feiman, manager of advanced technologies at American Greetings Corp., in Cleveland. "That is of no interest to the end user, but for the developer and from a management standpoint, it makes it a lot easier to watch over and change."

SilverStream Designer provides a graphical Java application development tool that includes wizards for building forms, views, HTML pages, database access and Java agents, sources said.

Furthermore, Designer enables an ongoing developmental process, with users able to continually collaborate on applications that blend structured data with interactive Web content.

Designer generates client and server application components. The Application Server is a pure Java HTTP server that has integrated support for Java servelets. Housed within the Application Server is the business logic that points to relational DBMSes, mainframes or other applications such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture objects.

When an application is executed, the Application Server pulls information from the various data stores together and constructs the application on the fly.

Guiding the SilverStream project is President and CEO David Litwack, former head of Sybase's Powersoft tools division. Other members of the core development team hail from Lotus' Iris Associates Inc. division and from Watermark Software.

SilverStream officials declined to comment on their product development.

Source: PC Week