[Hardhats-members] New middleware project from Apache?

[Gregory Woodhouse]

"Open Source Project Aims at Middleware" InformationWeek (08/29/05); Babcock, Charles Companies' increasing dependence on middleware has led to an open source movement from the Apache Software Foundation, known as Synapse, that could eventually challenge commercial applications such as IBM's WebSphereMQ and Tibco's Rendezvous. Though Synapse is still in its embryonic stages, and has yet to be upgraded by Apache to a full-fledged project, the prospect of a universal, standardized, and open source method of brokering services on a network could alter the commercial landscape considerably. If Apache proceeds with Synapse, the project will build on Apache Axis and Infravio's X-Broker, which will lend "two mature pieces of code" to help launch the initiative and attract the attention of a community of developers, says Infravio's Miko Matsumura. Tibco's Rob Meyer claims the open source project has no support from major vendors, but Synapse has garnered backing from Iona Technologies, Blue Titan Software, and Sonic Software. Synapse could help convert legacy systems to Web services if it succeeds in creating a standardized message and brokering system that builds on current standards, such as WS-Security and WS-Policy. As the demand for service-oriented products increases, Apache may emerge as the preeminent provider of open source code if it manages to add Synapse to an open source stack of interrelated programs. Forrester Research's Michael Gouldes says, "Apache is setting a lot of the direction of where open source and Java is going." Click Here to View Full Article === Gregory Woodhouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Without the requirement of mathematical aesthetics a great many discoveries would not have been made." -- Albert Einstein