> "Joe enables Java clients to be the first tier in a
> three-tier system. It allows you to have
> zero-administration clients, with core processes and
> business logic centralized and encapsulated in the network
> services in the distributed object system used in NEO,"
> Gharaat said.
---SunSoft to deliver beta release of its 'Joe' ORB
By Ted Smalley Bowen InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:18 PM PT, Jul 12, 1996 SunSoft Inc. on Monday will move a step closer to delivering a multitier, object-oriented Internet application infrastructure when it releases a beta version of its Java-based object request broker, Joe.
The client-side ORB, which conforms to the Object Management Group's (OMG) Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) model, integrates Java-based Web clients into existing applications and databases.
Joe 1.0, which is slated to ship in September, comprises an ORB and an OMG Interface Definition Language (IDL)-to-Java compiler. The Joe ORB is executed locally on the Java client, establishing and managing connections between local Java objects and remote NEO objects, according to Amir Gharaat, Joe product manager.
Joe maintains the thin-Java client model and reduced network traffic by only updating those components containing business rules, network services, or applications that change between client sessions -- as opposed to generating complete Web pages each time a user request is made, according to SunSoft officials.
"Joe enables Java clients to be the first tier in a three-tier system. It allows you to have zero-administration clients, with core processes and business logic centralized and encapsulated in the network services in the distributed object system used in NEO," Gharaat said.
"If a business process changes, it's not necessary to change all client systems or databases being accessed," he continued. "You just change the shared services, business rules, or applications on the network. You just update the frequently used things. The UI stays relatively free of administration."
By the end of the year, a follow-on release to the 1.0 shipment will add support for the CORBA 2.0 Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) specification, providing interoperability with third party CORBA ORBs, according to Gharaat..
Although it is CORBA-based, the SunSoft Internet object environment will provide hooks to other emerging object models, Gharaat noted.
The CORBA-based NEO environment will integrate with Microsoft Corp.'s Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) via the DCOM-to-CORBA integration technology under development by the OMG and Microsoft.
In addition, "SunSoft is working to provide an ActiveX-to-CORBA interoperability solution at that higher level, so an ActiveX object can make calls in to CORBA services, as can a Java or Unix interface, [making] ActiveX another client option in this three-tier system" Gharaat said.
"By the end of the year, you will see some [SunSoft] interoperability technology in the market."
SunSoft, a division of Sun Microsystems Inc., is at _http://www.sun.com/_.