IONA Enhances Orbix E2A Application Server Platform for Distributed Web Services, JSEE, and CORBA Applications

11/12/2002 - IONA®, the leading e-Business Platform Provider for Web Services Integration, announced version 6.0 of its Orbix E2ATM Application Server Platform (ASP). Orbix E2A ASP 6.0 is the industry's only enterprise deployment infrastructure for distributed Web services, Java 2, Enterprise EditionTM (J2EETM) and CORBA applications. Orbix E2A ASP 6.0 enables organizations to proactively leverage their existing operating platforms, programming language expertise, and legacy application investments when building new, large-scale integrated business applications that support reduced costs, increased efficiency, and greater business flexibility.

Version 6.0 of the Orbix E2A Application Server Platform is specifically suited for organizations whose IT assets include high-performance, mission-critical applications built on such diverse architectures as CORBA and IBM's OS390/zOS. These systems historically have operated in isolation from front-office business applications. IONA's Orbix E2A ASP 6.0 solves this application and middleware compatibility problem by providing a service-oriented deployment infrastructure that makes Web services, J2EETM, CORBA, Microsoft .NET and OS390/zOS mainframe environments transparently interoperable.

IONA's Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 combines the award-winning Orbix E2A XMLBus Web services technology, the world's most advanced and widely used CORBA ORB, and a highly scalable J2EETM application server, to deliver a set of tools for building and integrating applications as "services." Expanded deployment features - including a security framework, transparent asynchronous messaging middleware switching, and a single point of management and control of mixed technology applications - ensure the accessibility, interoperability, and management of these "services" across an organization's inventory of IT assets.

"A standards-based, Service Oriented Architecture enabled from the bottom up and the top down is an unequivocal win for enterprises looking to mitigate cost and risk," said Joanne Friedman, Vice President, META Group. "In a tight spending environment the notion of a single platform that makes CORBA, J2EE, Microsoft .NET and mainframe environments accessible as services, is future-proofed IT investment and should meet the needs of IT organizations large and small now and going forward."

New capabilities offered in Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 include:

  • The IONA Security Service adds a layer of abstraction to an organization's existing security infrastructure, which enables authorization and authentication across CORBA, J2EE, Web services and mainframe technology domains. In addition, IIOP Firewall Proxy lets IIOP-based CORBA or J2EE messages traverse firewalls securely. Support for cryptographic hardware devices lets Orbix E2A Application Server 6.0 applications obtain user credentials from a SmartCard or similar device.
  • Asynchronous Messaging Middleware Switching provides a transparent bridge between JMS and CORBA Notification, which enables applications that bridge disparate middleware domains.
  • Augmented Web services support enables Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 users to expose CORBA, J2EE, Java and mainframe-based applications as Web services, provides the ability to aggregate multiple mixed-technology components into business-level Web services, and includes an optional UDDI repository.
  • A single point of installation, configuration, management and instrumentation enables users to watch and manage every transaction, every message, every object's lifecycle, every security event regardless of whether it happens in CORBA, J2EE, or Web services, or some combination of these environments.
  • Internationalization enables Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 applications to support international character sets and operating systems.

"We had two goals for the 6.0 release of Orbix E2A Application Server Platform - enable organizations to lower their risk, and provide a solution for extracting value from existing IT assets," said Joseph Schwartz, vice president of product management at IONA. "Most IT spending over the last 10 years has been on disparate software applications and systems that address tactical problems. Recreating these systems or moving them all to either Microsoft .NET or J2EE to extract additional value is not realistic. Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 delivers a service-oriented architecture and revolutionary features that centralize and simplify application design, integration, deployment, and management across heterogeneous IT environments, to allow organizations to focus on tomorrow's opportunities, not yesterday's decisions."

Pricing and Availability
The Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 will be generally available in three editions - J2EE Technology, Standard, and Enterprise Edition - in 45 days. Orbix E2A Application Server Platform 6.0 starts at $495 per developer license and $5,000 per CPU deployment.

About IONA
IONA is the leading e-Business Platform provider for Web Services Integration with more than 4,500 customers worldwide. IONA Orbix E2ATM, which consists of the award-winning Orbix E2A Web Services Integration Platform and Orbix E2A Application Server Platform, enables the flow of information across disparate systems and the liberation of application assets for new business opportunities. Founded in 1991, IONA® (NASDAQ: IONA) is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts and offices worldwide.

IONA, IONA Technologies, the IONA logo, Orbix, E2A, End 2 Anywhere, End To Anywhere, Orbix E2A, IONA E2A, IONA e-Business Platform, iPortal Application Server, SureTrack, IONA XMLBus, Adaptive Runtime Technology, Orbacus, Orbix/E, IONA University and Total Business Integration are trademarks or registered trademarks of IONA Technologies PLC and/or its subsidiaries. Java and J2EE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc in the United States and other countries. CORBA is a trademark or registered trademark of the Object Management Group, Inc in the U.S. and other countries.

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