| Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure
and Resource Center |
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| Integrate the Enterprise |
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6. Choosing
a Technology
Many
large data center IS managers will find it is not a case of choosing
between "Cedar" and DCOM; both will benefit the enterprise, because
the type of application determines which makes the most sense.
The
dynamic nature of DCOM means that new application features can be
built that do not affect the client, eliminating software
distribution and system interrupts. The components are black boxes,
providing their functionality through well-defined interfaces. DCOM
allows components to talk to each other, regardless of the platform
or the programming language. So, components written in Visual Basic,
Visual C++, or Java, for example, can all work together to provide
the best solution. This also means rapid parallel development of
individual components that can then be easily plugged together.
DCOM can
be the best choice if the application requires:
- The mainframe as a peer. DCOM can call objects on
Windows NT or UNIX platforms to distribute information and
processing.
- Support for embedded structures in addition to
automation data types. DCOM supports both Automation data
types and embedded structures, and provides the capability for one
server to marshal the interface of another server object. A
company may set up an object broker on a mainframe that takes
requests from clients, finds an objectùsuch as by reference,
location or CPU loadùinstantiates the object and passes the
interface back to the client.
- User-defined types. Using DCOM, developers can
create data types of any complexity. A type might contain, for
example, all the fields in an origin, destination, or temporary
location. When a developer defines the interface, this type is
specified instead of specifying all of the individual fields. This
makes object calls to the interface much more accessible.
"Cedar" is best if the application requires:
- Complex data processing. Inherent to "Cedar" is the
ability to work in very robust and complicated environments.
Developers are insulated from understanding sophisticated
processing such as a two-phase commit across platformsùMVS and
Windows NT, for example.
- The application will use the Microsoft Transaction
Server (MTS). "Cedar" functions as an integrated component of
MTS, allowing drag-and-drop registration of type libraries, plus
taking advantage of specific MTS features, including load
balancing and multithread processing.
- Program to program communication is required.
"Cedar" allows sophisticated communication between
applications on different platforms. For example, a client could
issue a request to a mainframe program, and based on the output or
return code, another host application or server program can be
executed and controlled.
- Maintain the current programming environment. With
"Cedar," data center development teams can continue to leverage
mainframe development skills because it does not require the team
to learn another programming environment or language.
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