Sun Microsystems, the creator and leading advocate of Java technology, announced it has released the Java Web Services Developer Pack 2.0 (Java WSDP), which features advanced web service technologies scheduled for inclusion in next-generation versions of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). In addition, Sun is providing this enhanced web services development for Web Services with the NetBeans 5.0 IDE - bundled with the Sun Java System Application Server - to enable developers to speedily implement, debug and deploy web services. "The Web Services Developer Pack has been a popular favorite with developers through several releases now," said Jeff Jackson, senior vice president of Java, Enterprise and Developer Tools, Sun. "This latest release continues to deliver breakthrough technology for developing Web Services applications - giving developers a head start on some major enhancements in service oriented architectures." The Java WSDP, as part of the open source GlassFish project, is a freely available integrated toolkit that developers can use to build, test and deploy web services with the latest web service technologies and standards implementations. The latest release of this popular download provides benefits from a variety of innovations: - Use next-generation XML and Web services technologies slated for inclusion into Sun's industry-standard Java deployment platforms. - Enhance web services performance without revising WSDL files or application code thanks to updated Fast Infoset features. - Provide greater web services application security features with enhanced XWSS technologies. - Continue to enjoy Java interoperability and portability across platforms and devices, including those from Sun and other vendors. - Simplify and lower the cost of legacy application integration, data interchange, and publishing in a Web environment. The Java WSDP 2.0 release offers next-generation web services through JAX-WS 2.0 EA, JAXB 2.0 EA, and SAAJ 1.3 EA technologies. Together these components support a new architecture, with more logical relationships between web services description, data binding, and SOAP attachment processing. The result is web services applications that are easier to develop, and more efficient and reliable to deploy. Web Service development is further simplified with NetBeans 5.0, which uses the Java Web Services Developer Pack to develop web services clients. Users can develop next generation web services based on JAX-WS 2.0 & JAXB 2.0 using the NetBeans 5.0 IDE, an open-source IDE project sponsored by Sun, and the Java System Application Server, Platform Edition 8.2. The Java WSDP 2.0 also includes JAX-WSA 1.0, which is Sun's implementation of the WS-Addressing specification from the World Wide Web Consortium. This is Sun's first deliverable in the major Sun/Microsoft collaboration on Web services announced earlier in 2005. The Java WSDP 2.0 is available for free download at its Web site today. Also available is the NetBeans IDE 5.0 with the Sun Java System Application Server, Platform Edition at its Web site. The Java Web Services Developer Pack recently won a number of Java Developers Journal Reader's Choice Awards including "Best Framework for SOA and Web Services".