BEA Demonstrates Linux Leadership Role at LinuxWorld 2004

LINUXWORLD CONFERENCE & EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- http://bea.com/more_info.jsp?p=193&r=8.19.29 BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS), continues to demonstrate a leading position in the rapidly growing open source market, announcing today additional endorsements for Apache Beehive, specifically from HP, Red Hat, JoNAS and Geronimo, augmenting its placement at the top of the Linux-based application server software platform (ASSP) market, per IDC. BEA CEO Alfred Chuang is scheduled to keynote at LinuxWorld San Francisco 2004, further illuminating BEA's open source efforts, including recent initiatives like Apache Beehive and other expanded product offerings for Linux. The company continues to be a top choice for customers building Java applications on Linux. For the third year in a row, BEA led the Linux-based application server software platform market worldwide in software revenue in 2003, growing by 166 % in North America, according to IDC's Worldwide and North American Application Server Software Platform 2003 Vendor Analysis, [document number 31561, July 2004].

As one component of the company's Liquid Computing vision, open source is a key driver behind BEA's overall vision to deliver technology designed to help change the economics of enterprise computing. Key to this vision is Apache Beehive, the industry's first easy-to-use open-source application framework for building service-oriented architectures. Today BEA announced that HP, Red Hat, JoNAS and Geronimo have endorsed Apache Beehive, joining more than 50 others including The Eclipse Foundation, in support of this open source project (see separate release). Introduced in May 2004, Apache Beehive offers an open-source application framework, or runtime, which can complement integrated development environments (IDEs). Based on the runtime application framework in BEA WebLogic Workshop(TM), Apache Beehive is designed to be the industry's first, easy-to-use, open source foundation for building enterprise Java and service-oriented architecture (SOA) applications. Apache Beehive is designed to foster new innovations through industry wide collaboration, ensure investment protection for both developer skills and applications, and expand the community of Java developers.

"Driven by customer demand, Linux and open source play a critical role in BEA's overall strategy, which is why we are committed to being a leader in open source innovation," said Cornelius Wills, vice president, developer marketing, BEA Systems. "Today's announcements help affirm BEA's leading position in that effort, as validated by the placement of BEA at the top of the Linux-based application server market in 2003 by IDC, and by these new endorsements of Apache Beehive."

Alfred Chuang, BEA founder, chairman and chief executive officer, is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at LinuxWorld San Francisco 2004 on Wednesday, August 4 at 2:30 p.m. PT -- focusing his remarks on best practices for building competitive advantage with Linux. Mr. Chuang's discussion is slated to include innovative customer examples, including Virgin Mobile USA, regarding how the changing economics of enterprise computing are evolving application development, integration and deployment; and how Linux is helping organizations master these challenges and establish new competitive advantage. Mr. Chuang is scheduled to be joined on stage by Virgin Mobile USA.

"The BEA infrastructure on the Linux platform can help enable Virgin Mobile to deliver a high level of service to our customers," said Mike Parks, CIO, Virgin Mobile USA. "Working with companies like BEA and investing in solutions on Linux helps Virgin Mobile to continuously expand and evolve its offerings as demand grows and business conditions change. It can also give us a competitive edge by helping us to develop and deploy innovative applications in a fraction of the time required by many other cellular providers.

"With the constant need to reduce complexity and drive down costs, we are always looking to better our solution. Through BEA, we have discovered the benefits of deploying an SOA on the Linux platform," said Johnny Garcia Sebastiani, CIO of TIM Peru. "This technology helps enable our company to provide clients with superior availability and reduced overhead cost and complexity all in a simplified, tightly integrated, shared services environment."

To see BEA innovative technologies, new programs and initiatives at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo, visit BEA at booth #657 at Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from August 3-5.

The IDC report analyzing the North American and worldwide market for ASSP is based on the IDC 2004 Software Market Forecaster Database, which covers over 85 functional software markets worldwide by multiple operating environment and many geographic dimensions. The definitions of ASSP and software revenue, as well as the survey methodology and the operating-environment/regional modeling assumptions underlying these rankings are spelled out in the report. For more information on the IDC Software Market Forecaster Database, please visit http://www.idc.com. Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statement

Some of the statements in this press release are forward-looking, including the statements regarding: the BEA vision to deliver technology to change the economics of enterprise computing and any statements regarding the goals, development, expected features and expected benefits of the Apache Beehive project, products and technology ("Apache Beehive"). Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties BEA faces that could cause results to differ materially include risks associated with: any unforeseen technical difficulties or software errors related to the final development and launch of any Apache Beehive products or related technologies; any technological or standards changes in the application infrastructure market which could make Apache Beehive less competitive or require feature changes in Apache Beehive products; and any slowdown in the adoption by businesses of open source technologies, Internet technologies or related standards. Readers should also refer to the risk disclosures set forth in BEA's 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2004 as filed with the SEC and subsequent reports filed thereafter from time-to-time with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and BEA does not assume any obligation to update such statements nor the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those projected in such statements. About BEA

BEA Systems, Inc. provides the enterprise software foundation that allows thousands of companies to benefit from service-oriented architectures. With more than 15,000 customers around the world, including the majority of the Fortune Global 500, BEA and its WebLogic(R) and Tuxedo(R) brands are among the most trusted names in business.

Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., BEA has 71 offices in 34 countries and is on the Web at http://www.bea.com. NOTE: BEA, Tuxedo, and WebLogic are registered trademarks and BEA WebLogic Enterprise Platform, BEA WebLogic Server, BEA WebLogic Integration, BEA WebLogic Portal, BEA WebLogic JRockit, BEA WebLogic Platform, BEA WebLogic Express, BEA WebLogic Workshop, BEA WebLogic Java Adapter for Mainframe, BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic, BEA eLink, and BEA WebLogic Enterprise Security are trademarks of BEA Systems, Inc. All other company and product names may be the subject of intellectual property rights reserved by third parties.