IT industry analyst firm Gartner that the SOA will be the creation and delivery of software, the leading framework and forecasts to 2010, the application software revenue growth of 80% will come from SOA-based program, IDC expects China's 2010 SOA market will reach 500 million dollars. On the other hand, more and more active open source community, IBM, Oracle, AMD, BEA and so on to support and implement open source projects.
Of course, not only for commercial open source, SOA also only for system integration. These two factors are brewing a technology IT system and business model changes, which also constitutes a new industry, "Shuffle" cause. And the benefits of SOA and open source software, the combination not only reduces the customer's IT costs, while quick to respond to changing business needs. Then the open-source can become the vanguard of SOA, what? Or both complement each other? Or the SOA open source is the ultimate destination?
First, the merger trend towards open source and SOA
Application software and application solutions using open source software or open source software part is a common trend, because the information thus reducing the cost. The advantages of open source strategy, grouped into three points:
1. To improve the independence of enterprise systems, that the company's IT system will not be bound to a particular one of the business environment in order to facilitate the technological development of enterprises to separate routes;
2. Initial investment is small, although the source does not mean completely free of charge, but the total cost of the open source software than commercial software;
3. Open-source threshold is low, human resources easily accessible, to operating performance, lower cost of research and development time.
More than the commercial advantages of open source methods, open-source camp, labor costs low hardness and added that the open source community is very easy to find people who are familiar with J2EE, but outside the company in the IBM DB2 and Websphere to find people who are familiar with it would be difficult. Enterprise applications in general, the open-source software does not face technical challenges, on the contrary, in building a SOA, its open-source components of the particle size and viscosity precisely, especially in applications development.
Open Source Applications and SOA is increasingly becoming the perfect partner. This is valued by the industry. By the Forrester Research Inc. and Unisys, a joint survey, most of the CEO that SOA and open source software is an integrated plan to enter the best way.
Participate in the survey of 400 CEO, 71% considered integration of IT infrastructure in open source software can play an "important" or "very important" role. In addition, 57% of the respondents characterized open source SOA projects for the promotion of a very important role.
The answer is that SOA is a core extension of the original application with the ability of the life cycle. Forrester also said that 78% of respondents out of open standards, which tend to use open source software, which is to enhance the next generation of enterprise SOA infrastructure as the main reason for the value.
In fact, today has a number of open source software and open source availability of the service. Apache organization provides a range of open source SOA. Enterprises can use ActiveMQ (an open source-based Apache 2.0 licenced, and is implemented JMS 1.1. To work with Geronimo, lightweight containers, and seamless integration of Java applications) to communicate. Can use the open source Apache Axis 2.0 Web services for the collection. Use Apache ODE (Apache is the WS-BPEL engine hatch) workflow engine. Using the ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) seamlessly combined with the dismantling of the composite application.
Second, the open source specification and implementation of SOA
In response to customer demand, IBM, BEA, Oracle, SAP, Primeton and other companies are working together to develop specifications for building SOA systems for developers construct applications based on SOA simpler and more powerful way. Currently, standard-setting work by these companies of OSOA (Open Service Oriented Architecture) is responsible for collaborating organizations, other OSOA is also responsible for launch in the Apache open-source SCA / SDO implementation to faster catalyst market.
OSOA is currently drafting a series of norms, and to avoid royalty licensing provided to industry. OSOA industry partners are now focused on two projects work together, are SCA (Service Component Architecture, Service Component Architecture) and SDO (Service Data Objects, Service Data Objects). OSOA was released in March 2007 and SDO2.1 SCA1.0 norms, and has been submitted to the OASIS standards organization, the formal ground for the SOA prelude. These two projects as OSOA the two carriage as the SOA architecture has achieved a lot. According to the author to grasp the latest information, OSOA is preparing to start the third frame carriage: DAS (Service Data Objects, Service Data Objects).
SOA as a new thing, it's open source implementation has been the beginning of another. SCA and SDO of open source products, mainly Apache Tuscany, EclipseSTP (SOATools Platform), PECL SOAfor PHP, CodeCauldron Newton and so on. These open source products, especially Apache Tuscany and Eclipse unit of the STP's most spectacular.
Apache Tuscany: Apache Incubation is an open source project, the main developer from IBM and BEA. Tuscany came from royal blood (OSOA Union), SCA and SDO can be regarded as the most authentic open-source project. Compared with EclipseSTP, Tuscany provides only an SOA infrastructure, including the SCA runtime environment, SDO and DAS to achieve, Tuscany SOA project itself does not provide development and management of IDE plug-ins.
EclipseSTP (SOATools Platform): by IONA, IBM, BEA, Sybase, ObjectWeb contribution of such companies, and in 2005 became the ninth top-level Eclipse open source projects. STP is not yet the official version of the release, the latest stable version is February 1, 2007 release (S200702011041) version. According to the project plan, STP will be August 29, 2007 release Europa Edition (English meaning of "Europa", the four brightest planets Jupiter, one of Jupiter's distance came in the seventh of its satellite, the first as Galileo observed). Europa Callisto version is the original version.
PECL (PHP Extension Community Library) Library: No I do not know in the PHP community is known to everybody, but know the PECL repository of new people into the SOAPHP projects are few and far between. SOAPHP project's main objective is to use PHP to implement SOA in the SCA / SDO standard, which is really a great PHP community gospel.
Newton: It is based on GPL 协议, which means that if Newton source code was revised, the revised code also open to third parties for free and need to be modified source code Fankui to the Newton project. It is a distributed run-time framework for enterprise-class environment for the complex dynamics of SOA system as examples of sustainable management. Newton described the use SCA system, on the OSGi dynamic component to do the deployment, thereby achieving a distributed heterogeneous data sources, monitoring and management.
Third, open source and SOA to speed up the pace of cooperative operations
This year's biggest Mengliao than on the SOA, Red Hat Inc. announced specifically for Red Hat and JBoss middleware developed entirely based on open source Eclipse development platform for SOA. The development tools will focus on SOA and Web 2.0 application development. This new development tools under the open source JBoss community for developers.
A few days ago, Byron Sebastian (SourceLabs's CEO) described the key open source software in the important role of computing, SourceLab are committed to making a lot of open source components used more professional and improve their security and reliability. Also said that any open source code can be integrated into the management system of SourceLabs. SourceLabs will further enhance the level of open source SOA, while committed to this goal and to try to support the open source SOA product development, particularly those on the reliability and risks are particularly high demands of SOA open source products.
Of course, the recent collaboration on SOA and open source news after another. A large European software company, to its SOA-based environment and has 5 years of product, free of the open source community. Recently, Eclipse.org launched a SOA framework above the run-time items, while, DPWN (Deutsche Post World Net) in response to this call, his desire to be self-developed open source SOA platform for this project. And this SOA run-time framework of the project, mainly to help the user or organization will be critical fast open-source SOA based platform to the related open source community, the new release for effective management, integration of multiple open source components must be rigorous testing, reducing the complexity of multiple deployment platforms, so that technical support more in line with corporate standards for the various development tools to support emerging technologies.
Finally, IT sector, a lot of heated discussions merger scenario. The trade rumors, HP will acquire Red Hat (expensive), and that HP will acquire Novell (very interesting). No matter who buy, be sure, HP acquisition of the purpose, clearly want to make use SOA to build ASAP, the problem of the initial starting point is the open source on HP's SOA plans far-reaching. So, HP will acquire BEA was not hearsay.
Fourth, a new era of open-source Open SOA
SOA itself is a striking modern distributed computing approach, it helps to change the enterprise business services in the delivery of flexibility and agility. However, because of extensive SOA capabilities, may vary, and the implementation of the required number of software tools, business decision-makers must be on the scope and scale of careful consideration.
Traditional proprietary software are usually related to not only his own and other components work together. Difference between it and the open source software is that people in the private world there is always a set of products. All commercial software vendors want to provide one-stop service. Them in the open source world, people were trying to focus on one thing and its doing very, very good. They tried to establish very good features, but always remember those who want to carry out a number of business people. Open source has become a recognized hot spots and trends, in fact, early strength of open source in its initial stage, is already destined.
The help of open source software, companies only need minimal capital risk can go SOA's success. In recent months, SOA with the introduction of many SOA products and services, these products and services as long as fair use, it will help those who strive for true flexibility, a key step in the company.
Through the open source technologies, open source products and methods in open source SOA integration issues involved in the process useful, we may see with open source technology open a new era of service-oriented architecture exciting prospect. SOA open source-based IT planning equation is rewritten. Of course, the easy response to change is the formula for success in a very important factor.
V. Conclusion
For developers, open source software to solve a problem, that is the question closed proprietary software vendors. The success of SOA is all open source components are service-oriented architecture applications, access to interactive work. For consumers, the combination of open source and SOA SOA may be able to bring the general public, but also what they expect to do. Because of this merger can: cost reduction, no more license fees, as well as related technologies available in the market access; select a wide range, thanks to the concept of plug-ins, making components with exchangeable; influential, become a member of the community and can influence the future development opportunities.
Therefore, I believe that open source is the SOA into the mainstream and widely used choice for mode. Thus, for independent software vendors, the means to enter the market at the growth stage, it provides a framework widely used and eventually the formation of a viable market, and it provides integration with third-party group pieces. For system integrators, customers can capture the potential value of more conducive to tap the market potential.
Einstein once said, "things should be as simple as possible, not simpler." SOA unifies the component of the access method, with the SOA specification are increasingly improved, and the advancement of SOA standardization process, coupled with open source technologies and open source software industry's further opening up, open source-oriented SOA will gradually go from the concept stage Standardization of real time. With the advent of this era, SOA open source and commercial products will be more and more, getting better and better. The use of civilized source implementation of SOA for application designers, developers, system administrators, users and other industries, will enjoy the SOA unusual feast, and ultimate source of the benefits of SOA.