UK Finance Portal Virginmoney.com Selects #1 BEA WebLogic Server to Expand Its Online Financial Services
Java Standards Help Company Deploy Applications Quickly, Efficiently
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jul 26, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS chart, msgs), one of the world's leading e-business infrastructure software companies, today announced that virginmoney.com, a UK finance portal, has selected the award-winning BEA WebLogic(R) Server, the world's #1 Java application server, to expand its online financial services. BEA WebLogic offers virginmoney.com a scalable, robust platform to develop its new e-business offerings. Launched on July 15, 2001, the site features "wizards" designed to search the financial products of 23 "e-ssociate" partner companies.
"Due to our plans for expansion later this year, we did not have the luxury of being able to spend between three to six months evaluating all the products available," said Mark Hodgkinson, chief technical officer at virginmoney.com. "As the market leader, BEA was the obvious, reliable choice."
Virginmoney.com's expansion plans for its financial product portfolio over the next year forced it to reassess the feasibility of its existing infrastructure. "We required an open standards-based architecture, upon which to base our growth plans," Hodgkinson said. "We chose BEA's WebLogic Server because it provides us with a solid foundation, as well as the opportunity to add more applications in the future to maintain our competitive advantage in the online financial market. J2EE simplifies application development and decreases the need for programming. This makes our site simpler to maintain, exceptionally scalable and, therefore, richer for our customers."
"Virginmoney.com leads the Virgin Group in terms of advanced systems and entrepreneurial spirit," said Alan Banks, managing director of BEA Systems, Inc. in the United Kingdom. "They have ambitious expansion plans, so consequently virginmoney.com sought a platform that could scale to support their development strategy."
Virginmoney.com chose BEA WebLogic E-Business Platform(TM) and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) for their ability to design, develop, assemble and deploy enterprise applications quickly and efficiently. Virginmoney.com officials also cited the support from the BEA Professional Services team, which is helping the company re-engineer its Web site to J2EE by providing performance testing and architecting services.
"Our customers are confident financial consumers, looking for impartial help in finding the right product," said Hodgkinson. "We offer the 'best of the best' of online financial products, including individual saving accounts (ISAs), unit trusts, mortgages, personal loans, stakeholder pensions, and home and car insurance. By adding to and enhancing virginmoney.com's online services, we hope to build the business and win new customers."
About virginmoney.com
Virginmoney.com was launched in June 2000 with the ultimate aim of becoming a one-stop financial shop where users can search the whole marketplace and get impartial help in finding the right product. The site offers the "best of the best" of online financial products including ISAs, unit trusts, mortgages, personal loans, stakeholder pensions, home and car insurance.
Virginmoney.com brings together a range of top product providers or "e-ssociates," which meet Virgin's tough standards of service, performance, fair charges and delivery. The site's unique "wizards" and powersearches help users research and compare products across the entire market and then apply online from one of the e-ssociates. There is also an online sharedealing service, and customers can share their financial experiences with the virginmoney.com community on the discussion forums and get advice from their expert industry gurus on a variety of financial matters |
