Although the platform upgrade is considered minor by BEA, the company is highlighting Web Folder Mapping. This feature allows developers to assemble source files in a folder organization that matches the needs of a development team, not in a structure required by the server or IDE, said Bill Roth, vice president of the Workshop group at BEA. The same feature is known as "split development directory" in BEA's WebLogic Server application server.

Productivity is key to version 3.3.

"The simple read is that this is an update that will better allow companies who have large development staffs and are working on large code bases to be more productive," Roth said in an e-mail.

Other improvements in version 3.3 include:

-- Inclusion of the Eclipse Web Tools Platform 1.5.2, which is a bug fix release. Formerly, Web Tools Project 1.5.1 was offered.