Divine may file for bankruptcy

Plus: BEA updates JRockit JVM

Software maker Divine announced last week that after months of cost cutting, it will explore strategic alternatives – including filing for bankruptcy protection – to protect its operations.

A one-time business incubator, Divine today sells a range of software, including CRM, content management and collaboration applications. The company was founded in 1999 by entrepreneur Andrew Filipowski, who today is chairman and CEO. The company says it has worked over the past several months to minimize operating expenses and various liabilities. However, its board of directors has determined that Divine must seek alternatives. The company reported a net loss of $159.8 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30. Merger and acquisition adviser Broadview International will help Divine explore its options, which could include asset divestitures and Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Divine says it currently is involved in discussions to sell several of its businesses and assets.

BEA Systems has released an upgrade to its JRockit Java virtual machine for servers based on Intel processors. BEA acquired JRockit early last year from Sweden’s Appeal Virtual Machines AB and has worked closely with Intel to improve the product for servers based on Intel chips. Most of BEA’s customers run its WebLogic Java application server on Unix systems from Sun and HP, but sales on Intel-based systems represent the fastest-growing part of its business. The main enhancements in the new release of JRockit, Version 8.0, are in performance. BEA says it improved the profiling and debugging interfaces in JRockit to help customers write faster applications, and to find and fix performance bugs. Version 8.0 is available for download for 32-bit Windows and Linux systems.