JBoss Touts Open Source SOA Platform

10/11/2005

Seeking to deliver on the needs of enterprise customers, JBoss, Inc. today unveiled its strategy around the JBoss Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS) as the market’s only interoperable, open source platform for SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture).

JBoss provided the following details:

With many JBoss clients already using JEMS for their SOA applications, JBoss continues to extend JEMS with new and enhanced open source software designed to improve business agility.

“Great software shouldn’t be reserved for only those who can afford the price tag of a software license and an army of consultants. That’s why JEMS combines mass-market appeal with an open, pluggable architecture on which customers and partners can build applications in whichever way they want,” said Shaun Connolly, vice president of product management, JBoss, Inc. “Now, with many enterprises already making JEMS the foundation of their SOA strategy, JBoss is completing its natural evolution as an interoperable, open source platform inherently suitable as a foundation for SOA.”

Until now, enterprises looking to implement and realize the benefits of an SOA have had to choose between pricey, monolithic, proprietary platforms or an assortment of open or mixed source components that need to be cobbled together. In contrast, JEMS delivers the only cohesive suite of market-leading open source middleware products that can be used alone, mixed and matched, or as a whole to build and deploy applications, business processes and web services.

JBoss Application Server, the flagship JEMS product, is widely used today to host J2EE Web services. JBoss Portal and JBoss jBPM currently support SOA applications requiring a unified application user interface that can deliver process-driven interoperability with Web services. By incorporating the Drools project, JEMS will enable dynamic processing and intelligent routing within business processes based on service level agreements or other business rules. The SOA capabilities of JEMS will be further enhanced with the forthcoming release of JBoss Messaging in early 2006. JBoss Messaging will be the backbone of JBoss Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), due later in 2006, which will be based on the Java Business Integration (JBI) specification (JSR-208).

“Increasingly, platform vendors are using a ‘microkernel’ style of architecture, where the platform consists of the kernel and numerous plug-in functional components,” said Yefim Natis, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner. “Meanwhile, business applications have moved to SOA--a similar modularity principle. A unified pluggability platform, supporting both system and business components, reduces the complexity of today’s distributed, multifunctional IT environments. Preference should be given to vendors that support microkernel- and ESB-based technology architectures.”

Key advantages to using JEMS as a platform for SOA include:

• Wide Choice of Certified Platform Providers – The standards-based JEMS products run on a broad set of platforms and operating systems. Certified hardware and platform providers that support JEMS include Azul Systems, Dell, HP, NEC, Novell, Sun Microsystems and Unisys.



• Modularity and Flexibility – The plug-and-play JEMS architecture means that clients can use as much or as little of the platform as they choose. It also means they are able to mix and match components from other vendors. Products from software vendors such as Arjuna Technologies, ATG, and DataDirect are commonly plugged into the JEMS Microkernel architecture, enabling clients to preserve their existing IT investments. Moreover, products from Alfresco and JasperSoft are commonly used to extend the power and reach of the JEMS platform.



• Interoperability with Existing Solutions – Since JBoss is strategically focused on improving the SOA capabilities of JEMS, over the coming months customers should expect to see JBoss form interoperability-focused alliances with the major SOA vendors. Doing so will help ensure that applications and business processes hosted on the JEMS platform are able to interoperate with other services that exist within the IT infrastructure.



• Global Footprint of Service Providers and System Integrators – HP, Novell, Unisys and an ecosystem of regional partners offer a full spectrum of professional services worldwide. These services range from SOA strategy and design services to technology implementation and support and are designed to help JBoss customers generate measurable business value from their JEMS-based solutions.

“As JBoss’ first certified technology partner and system integrator, it is exciting for HP to see the JEMS platform become an open source platform for SOA,” said Uday Kumaraswami, vice president, Enterprise Applications Practice, HP Services. “Our customers are gravitating toward applications based on SOA and open standards. HP Services and JBoss JEMS together help clients realize the benefits of developing and deploying SOA solutions utilizing open source technology.”

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