JBoss fills out 'stack' with integration
Next month's update to JBoss's Java software suite will add a component key to its SOA plans.
JBoss ESB, which is software dedicated to moving data between different applications, will be available in December, the company is scheduled to announce at a user conference in Berlin on Monday.
It is also scheduled to give details of some of the features planned for JBoss Application Server 5.0, which will go into beta testing in December and be generally available next year.
JBoss, which is now part of Linux distributor Red Hat, is assembling a "stack" of open-source software components for building a services-oriented architecture, said Shaun Connolly, vice president of product management at the Atlanta-based company.
A services-oriented architecture, or SOA, is a way to design applications so that they are modular and standards-based. The approach enables software to be reused and so could bring down costs for a customer.
JBoss ESB is meant to work with other integration products and messaging protocols, such as IBM's WebSphere MQ. It can also do "transformation," or conversions between different XML formats.
The company expects JBoss ESB, one of several open-source integration servers available, to support the Java Business Integration 2.0 specification once it becomes a standard, Connolly said. It is also participating and tracking in Service Component Architecture (SCA), another SOA-related specification that JBoss intends to support once it has sufficient market adoption, he said.
JBoss expects to certify its Application Server 5.0 with the Java platform Enterprise Edition 5.0 standard next year. The application server also has a rewritten Web services software that improves integration with Web services written with other languages, including Microsoft's .Net, Connolly said.