Solaris DOE
Solaris DOE (Distributed Objects Environment) is a networked object
environment designed to leverage the benefits of open systems. It represents a
new approach to building enterprise-wide software systems and addresses many
of the key problems in developing and using application software today-being
able to write software more quickly, to respond more quickly to changes in
business and user requirements, and to protect software investments. Solaris
DOE is a compatible extension to the Solaris operating environment and is
CORBA-compliant according to the OMG (Object Management Group)
specification. DOE encourages developer innovation, making it easier for
you to build, deploy and maintain highly functional network-based
applications. Because object-based applications support re-use, DOE enables
you to construct successive generations of new applications upon previous
foundations. DOE integrates easily with existing applications and relational
databases, so it protects your existing software investments and reduces
your development and ownership costs.
At the core of Solaris DOE is the
Object Request Broker (ORB), which allows applications to seamlessly locate
and execute objects through a standard interface protocol. With DOE, objects
and applications interact transparently with each other across the network,
improving application interoperability and permitting a more flexible
computing infrastructure. Because the Solaris DOE ORB is implemented as one or
more multithreaded UNIX processes, it also offers scalable performance to
hundreds or thousands of transactions, unlike single-threaded CORBA
implementations.
Solaris DOE networked objects, which can be combined to
form applications, can execute locally or remotely and applications can access
and manipulate those objects without knowing their location. In addition,
multiple applications can share objects ensuring common practices and
interfaces. Using DOE administration tools, you can easily upgrade your
applications without disturbing other software or operations.
The DOE Product Family
Solaris DOE is a fully upward binary-compatible extension to Solaris 2.4 or
higher. You do not need to alter your applications in any way to run in a
Solaris DOE environment. The Solaris DOE product family includes the
following:
- The Solaris DOE operating environment for developing networked object
applications for deployment on Solaris DOE platforms.
- The WorkShop DOE
development environment for building networked object applications. It
includes all the components of WorkShop for C++ 1.1, an OMG Interface
Definition Language (IDL) compiler, distributed debugging, and networked
object development frameworks which help generate the components for a DOE
object, such as the Server Administration Framework which generates the
hooks for system administration.
- DOE administration tools for managing
the DOE network and DOE applications.
Future releases of Solaris DOE
and WorkShop DOE will be compliant with the OpenStep specification jointly
developed by NeXT, Inc. and SunSoft.
ISV Opportunities with Solaris DOE
As an independent software vendor, there are a number of opportunities to
expand your business by taking advantage of the capabilities of the DOE
product family. For example, many of the tools that complement the WorkShop
DOE development environment are desirable including the design tools that
generate OMG IDL, and the application-specific class libraries that are DOE-
compatible. However, there are no technical or marketing requirements for
Catalyst partners to use Solaris DOE or integrate with DOE applications. A
decision to support DOE is a business decision driven by your customer
requirements and, if appropriate, the technical requirements for
implementing your application. If you are interested in altering your
application to leverage DOE functionality, the best time to undertake the
effort is during a re-architecting phase for existing applications, or at
the early design stages for new applications. For existing applications, it
may make sense to re-write portions or your application to take advantage of
networked objects, or to "wrapper" parts of your application with OMG IDL code
so it can communicate with other DOE objects. For new applications, design
using modular networked objects with IDL interfaces; this gives you maximum
flexibility in developing your application and provides maximum flexibility
when the application is deployed.
Availability
You will be able to order both Solaris DOE and WorkShop DOE in October 1995.
Refer to the special insert in this issue of Catalyst Flash for information on
the Catalyst Objects Program for ordering and other availability
information. Additional information on the DOE product family is available
on the Internet at: http://www.sun.com/sunsoft/doe