For those interested, here is the official webMethods announcemen.
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR SIZE=0><!-Quote-!><FONT SIZE=1>Quote:</FONT>
Introducing webMethods 6
webMethods is pleased to announce the General Availability of webMethods Integration Platform 6.0.1, also called webMethods 6. We surveyed you, our customers, to find out how you would like us to evolve our platform. Your top requests were for unified tools, simplified management, and improved performance. With this release, webMethods delivers.
Unified Platform
webMethods 6 is the first simultaneous component release from webMethods. We have numbered all platform components consistently as 6.0.1 versions and have streamlined the names of many components. In addition, we deliver all components via a unified installer. Installation at your site literally takes a matter of minutes, and your administrators will be pleased to know that repeatable, cloned installation is quick and easy.
We have improved communication between webMethods Broker and webMethods Integration Server, and the platform's performance has never been better. Using Integration Server, you can publish and subscribe to documents on webMethods Broker, the platform's high-speed messaging switch.
Unified Development Environment
webMethods Integration Server continues to offer all of its previous rich functionality for adapting to back-end systems and conversing with partners. And here's the best part: you define all these integrations using one tool, webMethods Developer. Developer 6.0.1 offers a rich graphical user interface for adapter development, mainframe services development, and enhanced mapping capabilities.
Easier Administration
We understand that creating your integration is just the beginning. With webMethods 6, to help you reduce the time you spend on overall maintenance, we deliver enhanced administration, streamlined monitoring, and improved transactionality.
Modeling & Human Workflow
And if that isn't enough to entice you, we include many improvements to webMethods Modeler and webMethods Workflow. These components offer automated process modeling and automatic service generation. In addition, they enable you to seamlessly integrate collaborative, human-centric activities with your business processes.
Improved EDI and Flat-File Handling
If your integration projects include flat files and EDI processing, you'll be happy to know that we now offer flat-file handling native to Integration Server and Developer. We also offer enriched EDI processing, including reconciliation and reporting and trading partner agreements per EDI partner. You'll find our EDI capabilities are on par with other best-of-breed EDI software vendors.
webMethods 6 already proven
Customer demand and implementation success with the webMethods 6 First Customer Ship program have been outstanding. We have about 10 customers in production, and more than 100 other customers have accessed the 6.0 version. Customer and partner feedback has been overwhelming, validating the features, stability, and quality of webMethods 6.
Migrating current projects to webMethods 6
About three months after the release of webMethods 6.0.1, webMethods will provide utilities for upgrading your existing integration logic to webMethods 6. These utilities will simplify and accelerate conversion of your user-created logic so you can leverage the capabilities of webMethods 6. While we believe you will not want to miss the new features, upgrade is not required, as integrations created on earlier versions of the webMethods Integration Platform are fully runtime-compatible with webMethods 6.
For more detailed information about webMethods Integration Platform 6.0.1, please read the Release Notes, the General Support Statement, and the ind