Orbix implementation in Java puts CORBA on the Internet free of charge

OrbixWeb Internet Object Request Broker available at no cost from IONA
Technologies

Object World East, Boston MA., May 8th, 1996: IONA Technologies announced
that OrbixWeb, its Java CORBA implementation, is available today and can
be licensed at no cost. OrbixWeb dramatically increases the power and
scope of Internet applications, by extending the object technology
paradigm to the World Wide Web. IONA first announced OrbixWeb, a full Java
implementation of its market-leading CORBA (Common Object Request Broker
Architecture) implementation, in January 1996.

Current Web technologies give users crude access to the power of the
Internet - with http users can only really pull pages of text and graphics
back and forth across the net. Java increases the value of the Internet by
bringing application logic into the picture(Graphical User Interface (GUI)
functionality can now be added to a Web page. Integration with Orbix adds
another dimension, offering the ability to perform semantically rich
client/server operations.

OrbixWeb has been specially modularized and optimized for operation over
large networks, with a reduced footprint and streamlined class libraries.
When a user encounters an OrbixWeb-based Java applet on the Internet, a
streamlined small-footprint, Orbix CORBA client runtime environment is
dynamically downloaded to his/her machine. This then enables the client to
connect to a whole range of back-end services, without having to
explicitly download any of the functionality, and without the pain of
building complex bespoke communication mechanisms across socket
interfaces. Thus large-scale applications can quickly and easily become
truly Intranet-ready using the power of Orbix.

"The success of the Web is in its simplicity. It is hard to imagine
something simpler than http and URLs. However, that very simplicity is
also a limitation. Building client/server, multi-user applications is
impossible with current Web technology. Even Java by itself does not
support a client/server paradigm," says Annra O'Toole, chief technical
officer at IONA Technologies. "We are levelling the Internet playing
field. Orbix allows programmers to write applications in common
programming languages such as C++, Visual Basic, SmallTalk, Ada95 or Java.
These applications can now conduct civilized and meaningful conversations
with other well behaved objects on the Internet."

With Internet users already up against the limits of Web technology, many
non-standard extensions are being added to http to help it meet more
demanding user requirements. IONA's object-oriented approach based on the
CORBA standard, combined with popular language and platform support,
enables developers to create a richer range and scale of application for
the Internet.

CORBA is the de facto standard for developing distributed object-oriented
applications across enterprise networks. "The combination of Orbix and
Java takes CORBA beyond the enterprise and into the global sphere. Orbix
and Java enable much more than simple Internet applications(they provide a
truly portable platform for building and deploying large-scale,
distributed client/server applications across both public and private
networks," says Larry Podmolik, Director of Technology at STR, an OO
consulting firm in Chicago, IL.

IONA Technologies, Inc.
201 Broadway, Floor 3, Cambridge MA., 02139.
tel: 617 679 0900, fax: 617 679 0910.
 
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