In a major upgrade to its mashup server, JackBe is adding new tooling, connectors, and reusable components that is intended to make it easier for business users and developers alike to build data-driven mashups. The laundry list of new features for Presto, which is actually quite deep for a 2.0 version, is being timed to garner attention at this week’s Web 2.0 Expo.

Among the highlights, JackBe is easing the path for developers by adding a new Eclipse-based IDE which combines builder and debugger; before this, to develop mashups, developers would have had to write in the tool’s proprietary XML-based markup language, EMML. The IDE supports the ability to drop down into Java or JavaScript, which according to CTO John Crupi, is being utilized differently than he first expected. “We originally thought developers would use Java to expose POJOs as services, but instead we learned that Java is being used more for invoking utility functions.” You could invoke Java classes for functions such as data calculators, while JavaScript would be used for more procedural functions, such as validating input.

For business users who simply want to piece together mashups visually, there is a new “Wires” visual composer added to the 2.0 release. And to make mashups accessible, sharable, and reusable, JackBe has introduced “mashlets,” which are self-contained components that pull data form services that are exposed by internal systems or out in the cloud. Mashlets carry metadata artifacts with them, so if they are used for exposing a service with specific authentication requirements, that is passed along with the mashlet. The other piece is a mashup hub that functions as a UDDI registry equivalent for mashups, so mashlets can be repurposed through a lightweight repository mechanism.

Finally, there are a series of connectors that are used for retrieving WSDL web service data from HP Systinet UDDI registry; JSR 168 connectors, so you can expose mashlets as portlets through Java EE-compliant portals; an Excel connector which lets you populate spreadsheet cells with mashlets; and event connectors that plug into JMS.

JackBe has differentiated itself from others like Nexaweb in its focus on being data-driven. By conmtrast, Serena has focused on developing an on demand enterprise mashup service that features a sandbox controlled by its TeamTrack source code management offering, while Nexaweb has focused on client side development and high performance back end messaging. Being data-driven was a differentiator, but now that IBM has entered the game big time with the InfoSphere Mashup Hub (which carries data connectors), you could interpret it one of several ways: JackBe is now facing goliath, goliath has validated JackBe’s approach, or both.

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