1. Why would I choose this product over BEA WebLogic (IBM WebSphere, etc)?
2. On your website you claim you can reduce development costs by providing a robust set of system services, how about the testing phase of developing an application?
3. How can xTier™ reduce and optimize the cost of applications support?
4. For existing J2EE applications, do I need to go through xTier™ or can I have direct access to my J2EE layer?
5. Does xTier™ support .NET?

1. What are the platform requirements?
2. How can I integrate your product with my homegrown client/server applications?
3. Do I need an application server in order to use xTier™?
4. What expertise do I need in order to use xTier™?
5. How long does it take to install and start using xTier™?

1. What is the benefit of the xTier™ transaction service?

More question? Please email to  support@fitechlabs.com

Why would I choose this product over BEA WebLogic (IBM WebSphere, etc)?
xTier™ as a product does not compete with BEA WebLogic or any other application server vendors. From the beginning, xTier™ was designed to bring additional value to existing infrastructures by providing a host of unique services in cross-paradigm manner. In other words, xTier™ and J2EE are entirely complementary to each other.

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On your website you claim you can reduce development costs by providing a cross-paradigm set of system services, how about the testing phase of developing an application?
xTier™ is not a test automation technology and therefore it brings an indirect value for reducing allocated time (cost) to the testing phase. Probably the two most important aspects of xTier™ middleware for testing environmeent are the Service Oriented Design and the "configuration" service xTier™ provides. xTier™ offers a highly modularized and comprehensive approach for service development that results in simpler application design which, in turn, leads to a shorter testing phase. xTier™ "configuration" service provides a wealth of options for configuring the target system for various needs, such as testing or staging in a simple, cohesive and robust way, thus significantly simplifying setup for system under test.

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How can xTier™ reduce and optimize the cost of applications support?
xTier™ has a direct impact on maintenance costs. By providing industrial-strength implementation for various system-level services such as, distributed caching, system workflow, configuration or metadata and advanced object serialization, it dramatically reduces the scope of maintenance comparing to proprietary or in-house solutions. Reduced maintenance scope translates directly into cost savings and improved quality.

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For existing J2EE applications, do I need to go through xTier™ or can I have direct access to my J2EE layer?
One of the key assets of the xTier™ architecture is its “non-intrusive" integration capability. With non-intrusive integration most of the services can be used independently of each other and impose no restrictions what so ever on how they are used within the hosting environment. For example, developer can choose to use only one or two services, or can use them all. Developer can also continue to use all current J2EE APIs without any changes and use xTier™ services only where and when needed, enabling a smooth integration instead of a costly “rip & replace” type of integration.

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Does xTier™ support .NET?
xTier™/GRID provides an interface for xTier™ Grid Tasks to utilize your existing .NET-based functionality in a process isolated way. In this way, your existing .NET functionality can be reused and your application can benefit from the scalability and reliability of the xTier™ /GRID infrastructure. This functionality is available as an add-on package for xTier™/GRID 2.3 that is available now. (If you would like to evaluate this package, please email support@fitechlabs.com to obtain a copy.)

xTier™/LWC for .NET is scheduled for release during Q1/2006 with the .NET editions of xTier™/GRID, xTier™/CACHE and xTier™/CLUSTER scheduled for release Q3/2006. The .NET versions of xTier™ will provide identical APIs for both .NET and Java and seamless interoperability between the two runtimes.

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What are the platform requirements?
xTier™ 2.3 is certified for Windows 2000/XP, Solaris and Linux using JDK 1.4.x.

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How can I integrate your product with my homegrown client/server applications?
The way xTier™ integrates with the hosting environment is through the use of a micro kernel. A micro kernel is a small piece of code (usually around 100 lines of code) that is responsible for booting up the xTier™ kernel. xTier™ does not require the presence of a J2EE application server and can be attached to practically any J2SE-based environment.

Note that xTier™ comes with micro kernel examples for J2SE, JBoss 3/4, Websphere 5, Oracle Application Server 9i/10g and Weblogic 7/8 application servers as well as detailed developer’s documentation.

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Do I need an application server in order to use xTier™?
No. xTier™ does not require presence of a J2Ee application server. Through a micro kernel layer xTier™ can easily integrate with practically any J2SE-based environment.

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What expertise do I need in order to use xTier™?
xTier™ is Java-based. It only requires knowledge of the Java language. A basic understanding of XML is also required.

Note that xTier™ comes with a large amount of documentation and Java examples for each service.

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How long does it take to install and start using xTier™?
It takes a few minutes to install xTier™. In the case of proprietary or in-house infrastructure, it may take a day or two to develop the micro kernel to integrate xTier™ with the existing hosting environment.

Notice that xTier™ comes with pre-packaged micro kernels for JBoss 3/4, Websphere 5, Oracle Application Server 9i/10g and Weblogic 7/8 as well as a "in-process" micro kernel that can be used out-of-the-box for most applications.

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Why is transaction service implemented only for Java?
When designing xTier™ it was critically important to ensure that services provided by xTier™ would not limit normal use of the hosting infrastructure and would not introduce any unnecessary artificial layers of abstraction on top of the existing functionality, unless such layers provide unambiguous value to the developer.

xTier™ comes with JTA-complaint transaction manager (TM) without context propagation support. The transaction service does not introduce any new APIs to JTA and only provides a uniform way for accessing JTA TM instance. Since, for example, JSP engine or proprietary middleware might not have JNDI support (which is a J2EE way for accessing TM) this simple access API is very useful because it provides a consistent way for accessing TM regardless of underlying environment. In the case of xTier™/GRID the xTier™ Tx service provides support for non-splitting grid tasks that are transactional in nature.

This decision is one of the examples where xTier™ makes a rational choice of providing only what does indeed make sense from a developer’s point of view and avoiding unnecessarily bloated middleware.

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To inquire about xTier™ and its competitive pricing, please submit your questions to  sales@fitechlabs.com or contact a sales office nearest you.

If you have any further questions, send us an email at  support@fitechlabs.com