IONA Completes BEA Validation Program; IONA's Artix Extensible ESB Integrates with BEA WebLogic Platform to Achieve Seamless Interoperability of SOA Infrastructure

As an extensible ESB, Artix can enable enterprise IT organizationswith multiple generations of business applications, technologies andarchitectures to leverage Web services-based integration software andallow existing IT assets to work together, forming the basis for anagile service-oriented architecture (SOA). Artix provides WebLogicusers native, configuration-driven integration to non-J2EEenvironments including .NET, CICS and IMS mainframe, and CORBA(R),helping IONA and BEA to better provide customers with a solutiondesigned to ensure that legacy systems can participate as equalcitizens in new IT initiatives, including SOA, built on the BEAWebLogic Platform 8.1.

"IT organizations have made significant investments in thetechnologies required to run their businesses and today, many arelooking for ways to effectively leverage those investments, and at thesame time, standardize on modern computing platforms such as BEAWebLogic," explained Eric Newcomer, CTO, IONA. "Through its multiprotocol and data format support, plus support for the enterprise QoSrequired by mission-critical systems, Artix can provide an importantbridge between the legacy and the new, paving the way for moreeffective SOA deployments."

The BEA Validation Program provides a testing framework to verifythe technical readiness of partner solutions that complement, operatewith, or extend the BEA WebLogic Platform. Partners can validate theintegration of their software applications and solutions with the BEAWebLogic Platform or test the interoperability of Java controls andintegrated development environment (IDE) extensions with BEA WebLogicWorkshop. The BEA Validation Program is open to all partners enrolledin the BEA Partner Program.

"We're pleased IONA is participating in the BEA Partner Programand has taken the extra step to validate Artix with BEA WebLogicEnterprise Platform," said Larry Aronovitz, Director Worldwide PartnerProgram, BEA Systems. "BEA's validation program is designed to helpaccelerate adoption of partners' solutions and increase marketopportunities by assuring mutual customers that these partners'technology solutions integrate with the BEA WebLogic EnterprisePlatform."

About IONA

For more than a decade, IONA(R) Technologies (NASDAQ: IONA) hasbeen a world leader in delivering high-performance integrationsolutions for Global 2000 IT environments. IONA pioneeredstandards-based integration with its CORBA-based Orbix(R) products.Artix(TM), IONA's extensible Enterprise Service Bus, enables existingenterprise systems to be integrated with an organization's commoninfrastructure components. IONA's sponsorship of the ObjectWeb Celtixopen source ESB is a natural extension of the company's history ofsolving integration problems by leveraging open standards anddistributed architectures.

IONA is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. headquartersin Waltham, Massachusetts and offices worldwide. For additionalinformation about IONA, visit our Web site at http://www.iona.com.

IONA, IONA Technologies, the IONA logo, Orbix, High PerformanceIntegration, Artix, Mobile Orchestrator and Making Software WorkTogether are trademarks or registered trademarks of IONA TechnologiesPLC and/or its subsidiaries. CORBA is a trademark or registeredtrademark of the Object Management Group, Inc. in the United Statesand other countries. All other trademarks that may appear herein arethe property of their respective owners.