The new IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) v6.0 and above introduces the concept of Server Profiles.
Profiles can be thought of as a specific server runtime environment operating within a separate instance of the JVM.

Profiles can make each Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server runtime unique and separate from the server binaries and from other profiles. Each runtime environment has its own configuration files, logs, properties, and other attributes.

The separation of static binaries from configuration files provides a number of benefits for system administrators.