Red Hat Extends JBoss Middleware With Open-Source SOA Platform

Red Hat is expanding its JBoss open-source middleware by adding tools for integrating applications and business processes within a service-oriented architecture and launching three product initiatives within the open-source community.

Red Hat. which unveiled the new product and initiatives Thursday, said the community projects include the development of software for BEA Tuxedo-compatible transaction processing, SOA governance and systems management.

“JBoss is strengthening our leadership in the open source community with these initiatives, which are intended to expand the availability of enterprise-level capabilities necessary to advance the growth of open source middleware in organizations," Craig Muzilla, VP of middleware business at Red Hat, said in a statement. “Viable open source offerings for high-speed transaction processing, SOA governance and management will be key to accelerate customer adoption of open source middleware.”

The transaction-processing project, called BlackTie, is expected to extend the current Java-based transaction monitor project, JBoss.org Transactions, through the addition of C, C++ and mainframe compatible transaction capabilities. The purpose is to integrate and migrate the legacy and Java-based transaction environments.

The BlackTie project will emulate TP monitor application programming interfaces, such as BEA's Tuxedo, thereby providing legacy services in an open-source capacity, including security, naming, clustering and transactions, Red Hat said. Therefore, applications formerly dependent on legacy transaction environments, including BEA Tuxedo, would operate with the JBoss transaction-processing features through the BlackTie framework.

Red Hat expects to eventually release JBoss enterprise middleware based on JBoss.org BlackTie and transaction projects.

For SOA governance, Red Hat intends to launch a series of projects on JBoss.org that will define a comprehensive open-source approach, starting with the repository and UDDI registry. Other projects are expected to be launched over time in areas such as policy management and enforcement.

The first community project under the SOA governance umbrella is already underway. JBoss.org DNA, which stems from Red Hat's 2007 acquisition of MetaMatrix, is expected to produce a full-featured repository.

In the area of systems management, Red Hat and Hyperic, a open source Web infrastructure management software vendor, released to the community on Thursday a jointly developed management platform project named RHQ. The project is expected to serve as the code base for JBoss Operations Network version 2.0, which is due out in the spring. The RHQ project aims at developing a common services management platform. Source code under the GPL open source license, as well as project information and community forums, is available on the Web, as well as information on other JBoss.org projects.

For business process management, Red Hat introduced the JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform. The software includes an enterprise service bus, service orchestration, workflow, business policy and rules management and integration, and message content-based routing leveraging rules.

The platform supports a variety of products that provide governance, security, a registry and repository, business process automation and activity monitoring. Vendors with products that can be added to the platform include Active Endpoints, Amberpoint, Information Builders, iWay Software, SeeWhy, SOA Software and Vitria Technology.

Red Hat acquired open source middleware vendor JBoss in 2006. Since then, Red Hat has become an important Java player, and has worked toward extending the JBoss application server to SOA middleware. Because it's free and open source, JBoss has spread rapidly, even though most users aren't paying Red Hat customers.