Outlook
We are using the z2-Environment on a daily basis. It powers our development landscape as well as our productive applications.
The z2_base installation is a subset of what has been done. In most cases, bringing new functionality into the environment is relatively easy. In some cases it makes sense to provide z2 specific abstractions. The way a web application is a simple declaration with a folder structure, you could wrap your own feature into a configurable multi-instance feature.
Now available: z2@Spring
Go here for more details.
Integrating the Spring Framework with the z2 component model gives modular application development platform featuring fast turn-arounds and easy distribution paired with state-of-the-art application development paradigms. Design not just web apps but any kind of module, including batch processing using Spring assembly.
z2@Hadoop
Implemented: The z2-Environment can be used embedded in any Java program thereby giving a convenient solution to consistent distributed deployment of application code. This has been shown to be particularly useful when integrating with distributed computing frameworks such as Apache Hadoop.
z2@OSGi
OSGi integration, based on the Equinox framework has been implemented (but is not yet part of the z2_base package). Along the same lines for Java code in the samples, OSGi bundles can be provided in source and the environment takes care of all the rest, so that the z2-Environment becomes a rich life cycle management tool for the OSGi platform.
z2@SAP
By nature z2's life cycle management approach resembles that of SAP's ABAP Systems without giving away Java benefits or introducing new complexities. In fact, operating a z2 system is simpler than operating an ABAP system - even in development.
Integration with SAP's transport system will make z2 a lightweight and highly effective Java player in an SAP landscape.
Next: References.