@mgkimsal - yes java, moving towards scala on newer projects. We use simple, fast & testable solutions, such as a main class or servlet listener which constructs an application programmatically, rather than a monolithic spring or JEE configuration.

Could you tell us which framework you're using then? I know that most Java enterprise software is either on Spring or on EJB, I'd love to know if there's an alternative.

are you using java at all, or something else entirely?

Scala or Java SE the way to go IMHO.

Scala is a language, not a framework. You can use Spring with Scala too [1]. Personally, I wouldn't use it for an enterprise project just yet, because of its compatibility issues. And why on earth Java SE? The enterprise edition gives you everything a standard edition does, plus libraries for messaging, transactions, persistence, basically everything you need to write a large scale enterprise app.

[1] http://www.infoq.com/articles/scala_and_spring

While Scala is not a framework, it can be used with many Java libs. It isn't necessary to use xml-heavy frameworks and app servers to write "enterprise" apps. Endless layers of OR-mapping and xml is not productive. There are endless messaging and persistence solutions available without resorting to xml-obsessed JEE and Spring.