Apex runs only on the Apex platform, but users will be able to connect to other applications through Salesforce.com's Apex Connect, which is currently available for Microsoft Office, SAP ERP and later this year for Oracle ERP applications.

Other new features in the Winter 07 release include a real time messaging and integration bus to allow third-party applications and middleware to be notified of business events occurring in Salesforce.

Also available will be an Apex toolkit for Eclipse development.