Rational Business Developer is bundled with a version of the Eclipse IDE or workbench; this bundled workbench is the base platform on top of which the functionality in Rational Business Developer is provided. If you have an Eclipse IDE on your workstation, then you have the option to extend it, which means that you add to your current Eclipse IDE the additional functionality provided in Rational Business Developer.
Extending an Eclipse IDE adds the functions of the newly installed product, but maintains your IDE preferences and settings. Previously installed plug-ins are also still available.
Your Eclipse IDE and JRE must be at least at the minimum version levels that the product requires. Installation Manager checks that the Eclipse instance that you specify meets the requirements for the installation package. In general, for Rational Business Developer you need Eclipse version 3.6 or later.