"COM"ing to a Conclusion on Middleware
Frank Hayes, Software Engineering Senior Manager
Compaq

COM is the well established and broadly deployed infrastructure used by the millions of Windows desktops and productivity tools we have used to such great effect over the last several years. Efforts underway such as The Open Group ActiveX Core Technology project will yield a cross platform UNIX implementation of the COM technology. The project is a cooperative effort between Compaq, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Seimens Nixdorf. This project along with individual efforts by these and other companies will insure broad cross platform availability of this technology in the market place. As support for COM emerges on enterprise platforms it is generating a tremendous amount of interest and becoming the middleware of choice for many large and small corporations for making corporate resources available to their end users.

This session will discuss what COM means to you as an Information or Development manager and address three areas of common questions for most managers.

1. What is COM and what is Distributed COM? This includes a brief overview of COM, DCOM, and the programming model behind these technologies.
2. How it is used in a mixed Windows/UNIX environment. This section will discuss how COM/DCOM is used in a mixed environment to good advantage.
3. The advantages of using this technology. This will cover the broad range of potential benefits available to organizations and developers who take advantage of this technology.