Component Software Technology Program Introduction
Wednesday,
28 January 1998
08:30 - 15:30
The challenge which faces The Open Group and its customers is not the selection of a single object model for IT DialTone. Such a decision is impractical and really doesn't help customers who are already deploying the technologies that exist. The real challenge is managing the diversity so that systems can be built using a variety of difference approaches to component software technology, but with the necessary level of interoperability between different components.
The focus of the new Component Software Technology Program (which is a subset of the general area we referred to as Application Services in the session in Boston), will therefore be primarily on identifying the problems which arise from the broad deployment of different approaches (such as CORBA, DCOMActiveX, Java RMI, DCE RPC) and how the interoperability problems can be addressed.
The owners of specific component architectures are poorly placed to address these integration issues because they clearly have a vested interest. There is no-one effectively addressing and solving these problems today in a vendor-neutral fashion suitable for wide scale adoption. This is the clearest need for Open Group action identified as part of the IT DialTone strategy.
This program will potentially be very broad.
- It offers a logical home for the much publicised Active Group and standardization activities needed to support the safe deployment of the ActiveX core technology.
- It offers a logical home for addressing the problems associated with linking object models
- It offers a logical home for addressing the problems associated with the broad impact of Java
The first meeting will focus on developing clear statements of the problems that need to be addressed and their relative priorities. The Open Group will present a white paper on Component Software Technology for consideration by the meeting and to stimulate discussion.
The Open Group is so committed to this program, that its Chief Technical Officer, Mike Lambert, will personally lead this program group until it has an agreed program of work in place.
