<p>They're called "platform clouds" or sometimes "platform-as-a-service." They provide a platform where software developers can build online applications without having to mess around with all the infrastructure needed to run them. Some, like Heroku and Google App Engine, run only on the public internet. But a few companies, such as Apprenda, offer platform clouds you can install in your own data center.</p><p>Up until now, you could only use Apprenda's product if you were building applications with Microsoft's .NET framework, but now the company is supporting the Java programming language as well.</p><p>For years, while other platform cloud companies were venturing into additional markets, supporting more languages and frameworks, Apprenda refused to handle anything but .NET. "You can't just build this once and then make it work for different languages, you can't make that a horizontal function," CEO Sinclair Schuller told us last September. But after enough customers and potential customers asked for Java, Schuller says, the company couldn't help but change its ways.</p><p>The new version runs Java on Linux using the same architecture Apprenda developed for .NET on Windows. Schuller says that finding the talent to implement Apprenda for Java wasn't hard. Many of Apprenda's employees are former Java developers who converted to .NET. But the company did hire some additional people to develop Apprenda for Java.</p><p><a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/apprenda/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/02/27/single-language-no-more-apprenda-adds-java-to-its-net-centric-platform/">Single-language no more: Apprenda adds Java to its .NET-centric platform</a> (GigaOM)</p><p><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/27/apprenda/">Apprenda adds Java as a second language, will 'support 90%' of enterprise ...</a> (VentureBeat)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dIGRpbWR0kH69gM2wHWRnq61feiiM&ned=us">5 additional articles.</a></p>
