Synapse to impact application integration

The recent launch of the Synapse project to create an open source Web mediation framework for Web services will highlight the growing importance of open source middleware, reports VNUNET.

The Synapse project unveiled by Sri Lankan start-up WS02 offers further evidence that open source technology will have a "massive impact" on application integration, according to Gartner.

Synapse aims to develop components for a flexible Web services transformation, management and routing platform providing enterprise service bus (ESB) capabilities.

"Synapse extends the list of planned open source ESBs which now includes Celtix from Iona and ObjectWeb, GlassFish from Sun Microsystems, the Mule ESB project, and an upcoming offering from JBoss," states a report from Gartner.

Plans for an Eclipse Application Lifecycle Framework (ALF) will open new opportunities for open source developers and systems integrators, CRN reports.

The evolution of the Eclipse Java IDE into a full-fledged application lifecycle management (ALM) platform will spur more commercial activity on the open source development over the next 12 months, said Eclipse Foundation executive director Mike Milinkovich, speaking at a New York conference recently.

Led by leading ALM ISV Serena Software and approved by the foundation on 27 July, the ALM project is expected to be completed in the second half of 2006.

"In the future we see Eclipse becoming a complete development platform with full application development lifecycle capabilities. It`s still early, but tool integration is only one of the areas that will grow in importance," said Milinkovich, noting that ALF will serve as the glue that will enable interoperability between various tools and create a network effect benefiting ISVs, vendors and channel partners.

JBoss has unveiled the JBoss Migration Program to meet growing demand from enterprises to move from costly proprietary application servers to open source JBoss Application Server (AS), reports SDAIndia.

According to BZ research, JBoss AS is used by 34.8% of enterprises that leverage application server technology, making it the most widely used application server in the industry.

The new migration programme offers a standardised assessment and implementation methodology to ensure that enterprises can readily migrate their applications to JBoss AS and take advantage of professional open source to realise total cost of ownership savings.