Sun Readies Revamped Java/XML Integration Server

In a project code-named Ganymede, Sun is working to combine facets of its current integration software products to build a pure J2EE integration server, solution providers said. The new software is part of Sun's Project Orion strategy to "bake" all of its Java middleware into its Solaris operating system.

Solution providers said a competitive integration server is the missing link in Sun's Java middleware stack, as the company does not have Java-based software to provide both EAI and B2B integration that is closely linked to the rest of its middleware.

"Sun really has two integration servers with two different code bases," said Jim Guinn, a national practice director at Consultants' Choice, Houston. "One [server] is [written in] C and one is [written in] Java, but neither are ported to the Sun ONE Application Server, which is what's being done now."

Sources said the new product will combine elements of Sun's Sun ONE Integration Server, B2B Edition, the former C-based iPlanet ECXpert product; and Sun ONE Integration Server, EAI Edition, formerly the Java-based Forte Fusion product. Sun also will cull pieces of functionality from the former iPlanet Process Manager product and include them in the new server.

The new integration server will be J2EE-based and "loaded on the application server so you can have, as Sun does with Forte Fusion, JMS and XML, with XML over HTTP on the back end," Guinn said.

The new product also will include B2B components of ECXpert, and support the Java Connector Architecture (JCA), a Java standard for integrating legacy systems to Java applications, he added.

In order for Project Orion to succeed, Sun must offer integration software that works seamlessly with the rest of its middleware and can be updated in conjunction with other Sun ONE software products, Guinn said. "This is the continued evolution of the vision from [Jonathan] Schwartz to get everything on the same release schedule," he said. "You're not going to have multiple products that don't support the same [technology]."

A Sun spokeswoman said "it's no secret" that Sun is working on a "new and improved version" of Sun ONE Integration Server to keep up with competitive demand.

"The industry is heading toward a merging of EAI and B2B integration technology that's J2EE standards-based, and it's safe to assume that Sun will address this trend as well," she said.

The spokeswoman declined to comment on product specifics or release dates.

Solution providers said Sun's plans are in part a response to BEA Systems' move to combine Java application development with application integration in its WebLogic Platform 8.1, due out in its entirety by August.

Specifically, BEA's WebLogic Integration, the EAI and B2B software component of the platform, is the product Sun's new integration server will compete directly with.

One solution provider, who requested anonymity, called WebLogic Integration "the best thing BEA has done" for its product line, particularly because the product is tied closely to the rest of BEA's Java application development platform.

"Sun does not have an equivalent product to WebLogic Integration," said the solution provider. Once Sun's new integration server is complete, "they will be in the business and able to compete with WLI [WebLogic Integration] better."

Sun also wants to keep pace with other Java software leaders, which also offer integration software linked closely to their Java application servers, said John Rymer, vice president at Giga Information Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forrester Research.

"Sun wants to play in this product category that BEA and Oracle are in--and that IBM is kind of in--where you bundle together an application server with other middleware," Rymer said. "[Sun's current] integration products are kind of disconnected, and they aren't based on the application server in any significant way."

Rymer said it might have made more sense for Sun to acquire an ailing pure-play integration software company, such as Tibco, rather than build its own integration software. "If Sun really wanted to do something interesting they'd go out and buy one of these struggling EAI companies," he said, adding that WebMethods is one of the few pure-play vendors that appears to be weathering the challenging economic climate.

Of the leading Java software vendors, Oracle offers integration software built directly in to its 9iAS Java application server.

IBM Software has a host of integration software products with its MQ Series product line and WebSphere Business Integration, formerly technology from its acquisition of CrossWorlds.

Yet solution providers said IBM's integration software products are still not tied closely enough to be a completely seamless Java platform.

IBM's various pieces of integration software "are separate products," one solution provider said. "MQ is coded in C," he said. "It's archaic and not built to work with the [WebSphere] application server."