Sun Microsystems and several other suppliers will
release an early draft of a specification intended to ease
integration of Java-based systems, but IBM and BEA Systems have
dropped out of participation in the effort.
An “Early Draft Review” of the JBI (Java Business Integration)
specification is being released, featuring new support from JBoss,
Apache Group and Iona.
Also backing the proposal are suppliers such as Novell, Oracle
and SAP. IBM, no longer participating, cited a focus on other
integration efforts. BEA did not respond to requests for comment
other than to confirm it is no longer participating.
The subject of JSR (Java Specification Request) 208 under the
JCP (Java Community Process), JBI is being considered as standard
for business integration on the Java platform.
Final adoption of the proposal is anticipated next year,
according to Sun. Development of JBI has been going on for 18
months and is now subject to public review, said Roger Nolan,
senior director of product marketing for Sun’s integration
products.
“It’s an industry-wide effort to standardise business
integration technologies and deliver them on the Java platform,”
Nolan said. No standard format for integrating higher level
services into Java-based platforms has existed prior to JBI, he
said.
JSR-208 defines an architecture and interfaces for plugging
components such as business process engines and workflow or
document transformation engines into the Java platform. BPEL
(Business Process Execution Language) engines could be part of the
mix. Through JBI, users also can wrapper and expose legacy,
back-end systems as web services and utilise them in Java
environments.
The technology is an enabler of SOAs (service-oriented
architectures) through its ability to integrate multiple systems,
he stressed.
JSR-208 features a shared SOA messaging facility. By combining
pluggable SOA integration components with an SOA infrastructure
layer, JSR-208 provides an important building block for
implementing an ESB, according to Sun.
Sun plans to produce a product based on JSR-208, with
availability expected in the summer of 2005, said Nolan.
“The question is, do they want to build their integration
solutions in an open and standard way or do they want to continue
to build proprietary extensions to try to lock in customers,” Nolan
said.
IBM has its WebSphere offerings and BEA its WebLogic Integration
product in the integration space, said Nolan.
“At this time, IBM is not supporting JSR-208. However, this
decision does not impact the role IBM plays in the JCP process. IBM
continues to participate as a leader in the JCP process and IBM
continues to participate either as spec lead or as expert group
member on many JSRs. IBM is focusing efforts for business
integration around other specs that are further along such as
BPEL,” said an IBM official.
Responding to Sun’s charge that IBM wants to offer its own
proprietary solution, IBM responded that BPEL is an industry
standard.
An official with new participant JBoss described JSR-208 as a
perfect fit for his company. The technology deals with an
infrastructure component for passing messages and what happens when
a message reaches a node, said Marc Fleury, founder and cheif
executive officer of JBoss.
“There’s a one-to-one mapping between what we built and the
infrastructure part of JSR-208, so we’re very interested in
participating,” Fleury said.
Despite Microsoft’s and Sun’s recent burying of the hatchet and
agreeing to work together, Microsoft is not participating in the
JSR-208 effort, Sun acknowledged. Microsoft is not a member of the
JCP, although it has been invited to participate, according to
Sun.
Paul Krill writes for Infoworld