Open-Source Firm Reworks Enterprise SOA Framework

WSO2, specialists in open source-based service-oriented architecture software, has released a completely reworked version of its enterprise service bus (ESB) on Monday that now ascribes to WSO2 Carbon's componentized SOA framework.

By fully complying with Carbon, version 2.0 of WSO2 Enterprise Service Bus affords IT shops significantly more flexibility in managing service-oriented connections throughout a large enterprise, company officials believe. The rejuvenated release also lets corporate and third-party developers hook in additional components to handle chores like service hosting, managing business processes, and greater governance abilities. Such customization capabilities reportedly serve to reduce the complexity of integration services and so reduce costs, company officials said.

Another major technical advantage of version 2.0 is that developers can now pry the management console logic away from the ESB routing and transformation engine. This makes it feasible to use just a single management console contained in the WSO2 ESB 2.0, making it possible for administrators to juggle a handful of back-end ESB tasks at the same time.

Version 2.0 also has an improved sequence designer that lets corporate programmers craft muscular ESB flow logic using a host of built-in mediators along with code crafted by corporate users. The new sequence designer also makes it possible for developers to jump back and forth between XML and graphical views of the sequence.

Flexibility is what WSO2 officials hope will be the hallmark of Version 2.

According to Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, WSO2's founder and CEO, his experience indicates that battle-tested users know that a single ESB solution doesn't fit every solution, but until now they have had little choice. He believes version 2.0 will offer users the flexibility to accommodate a wide range of SOA solutions, but with the complexity stripped out.

Other notable enhancements to the new software include enhanced proxy service wizard to create a stronger proxy service using only basic editors; improved transport management screens making it easier to configure and manage transports including mail; and a security management wizard that lets users choose options for authentication and authorization using a straightforward list of 12 common security scenarios.

Stitched seamlessly into the WSO2 Carbon platform is the ability to operate with the same Carbon framework that supplies all the WSO2 Carbon components with enterprise-strength management, security, clustering, and a try-it wizard that serves to simplify the process of testing ESB services.

Consequently, there's no need to implement the WSO2 WSAS 3.0 and WSO2 ESB 2.0 as separate products, the company explained. Rather, developers in need of Web services integration can now choose to start with the ESB product, which includes the core Carbon framework. But if they need to, developers, for instance, can add WSAS components such as Java services hosting or data services.

Version 2.0 can be downloaded immediately by going to www.wso2.com. Developers need only download the full product in order to get the essential Carbon framework and unified management console. Individual components will be available within one month of the initial product release, a company spokesman said.

The WSO2 ESB is being released under version 2.0 of the Apache Licensing agreement, which frees developers from any software licensing fees.

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