Red Hat Delivers New JBoss Business Rules Management System

Red Hat launches a new version of the JBoss Enterprise Business Rules Management System (BRMS), JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1

Red Hat's JBoss division has introduced a new version of its Business Rules Management System (BRMS), JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1.

JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1 is the latest piece of the Red Hat open-source middleware portfolio, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, and the first new release of the JBoss BRMS since May 2009. The new release brings additional authoring and management tools for use by business analysts and developers, said Pierre Fricke, director of product line management for middleware at Red Hat, in an interview with eWEEK.

JBoss Enterprise BRMS is an open-source business rules management system that enables active decisions with easy business rules development, access and change management, he said. This functionality enables businesses to quickly change the rules and active decisions that underpin enterprise applications to respond to market dynamics and competitive positioning.

"Business rules systems are critical for businesses to retain their competitive edge by making active decisions regarding business events as they occur," said Craig Muzilla, vice president of middleware at Red Hat, in a statement. "The functionality of this architecture allows a business to quickly change the underlying rules that govern such features as real-time insurance quotes, automatic discounts, linked frequent buyer programs and medical health records safeguards. Consumers literally use BRMS functionality every day, which is why having a cutting-edge system like what we are offering with JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1 is absolutely critical to help a business retain competitive advantages, engage customers and maximize revenue."

"What customers need today is the ability to quickly respond to change, opportunities and threats," Fricke said. The JBoss Enterprise BRMS enables this, he added.

JBoss Enterprise BRMS includes a fast, efficient rules engine and easy-to-use rules development tools, management system and repository, making it easier for a business analyst or auditor to view and manage business rules as encoded in IT application infrastructure.

Business analysts as well as service-oriented architecture (SOA) and application developers can verify that the encoded rules implement the documented business policies. JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1 enables businesses to reduce development time to update applications, SOA deployments and business processes with the latest business rules offering the business agility required to make active decisions regarding opportunities and competitive threats. 

New capabilities in JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1 include a foundation in the JBoss Open Choice Strategy, building on a wide range of rules authoring and development, deployment and management options; simplified rules services publication to applications, SOA and cloud deployments; performance enhancements; and a technology preview of complex event processing (CEP) capabilities enabling active business decisions.

"We have a technical preview of our Complex Event Processing technology that looks for significant business patterns and takes actions proactively," Fricke said. This can be used for things like real-time logistical routing in addition to "enabling your IT business infrastructure to make better decisions faster," he said.

"The ability to manage business rules from a systematic approach is critical for organizations that have to support increasingly complex levels of governance, regulations and competitive threats," said Judith Hurwitz, president and CEO of Hurwitz & Associates, in a statement. "JBoss Enterprise BRMS is intended to manage and streamline the processes and dependencies that organizations need to safeguard their business integrity."

Recently, the European-based financial services provider LaSer Nederland (LSN), part of the European Laser Group, which is co-owned by Galeries Lafayette and BNP Paribas, deployed JBoss Enterprise Middleware with the help of JBoss Solution Partner ISAAC.nl to create an architecture that will integrate more than 30 Websites that provide information on LSN's service portfolio. The portfolio includes tailor-made programs for acquisition financing, credit products, (co-branded) Visa credit cards, loyalty cards and online loyalty program management, Red Hat said. The company has gone from servicing several thousand online customers in 2008 to more than 100,000 customers in 2010, Red Hat officials said.

"Because of the success of the middleware platform that we built for LSN leveraging JBoss Enterprise Middleware, we are now layering the JBoss Enterprise BRMS solution on top of their architecture to create an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that will service over 4 million customers and offer more ways for LSN to handle transactions, make real-time decisions and improve their business with the use of BRMS," said Friso Geerlings, chief technology officer of Software Solutions at ISAAC. "With JBoss Enterprise BRMS we will be able to deliver the flexibility that LSN absolutely needs to take their business to the next level."

Meanwhile, as with all JBoss Enterprise Middleware solutions and in line with the JBoss Open Choice strategy, JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.1 offers an open-source middleware solution that customers can leverage on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform or on a choice of other supported platforms, the company said in a press release on BRMS 5.1. Customers using open-source middleware from Red Hat can leverage the cost, performance and flexibility advantages it offers over proprietary offerings, the company said.