ObjectWeb Celtix Project Delivers Enterprise-Ready Open Source ESB; Project Endorsed by ObjectWeb Community as Fully Featured Version 1.0

May 9, 2006; 03:22 AM
IONA(R) Technologies , a world leader in high-performance integration solutions for mission-critical IT environments, and ObjectWeb, an established and well-respected open source community with a focus on the development of industry-grade distributed middleware, announced that the Celtix(TM) open source Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) project has achieved its version 1.0 release. Celtix 1.0 provides users with a feature-rich, open source ESB runtime that can support an organization's adoption of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in the enterprise.

The Celtix project was initiated in June 2005 under the sponsorship of IONA. Celtix 1.0 is the result of the fifth consecutive on-schedule delivery of key project milestones and the acceptance of the current Celtix build by the ObjectWeb community. The availability of an open source ESB that offers comparable features and functionality to many commercially available ESB products provides users with an effective, standards-based foundation from which their SOA initiatives can be rapidly built and extended. The combination of commercial-grade technology and the backing of the project by a proven industry leader in integration and middleware technology gives users confidence that Celtix 1.0 is well positioned to support their enterprise SOA environments.

"Organizations are fast beginning to realize that adopting SOA implies deploying a software infrastructure capable of integrating applications and platforms from multiple vendors and of different generations. They are actively looking for options that afford them greater flexibility, both economically and technically, and are increasingly looking at open source as a way to achieve these goals," explained Massimo Pezzini, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner. "The availability of open source technologies that can meet the rigorous demands of enterprise SOA will be an important driver for mainstream adoption of this computing methodology."

Celtix 1.0 includes a variety of features that address the requirements, across all stages of the SOA lifecycle, of organizations deploying SOA as a means to generate better return on existing and future IT assets, streamline IT systems to be more agile and responsive to business change, and ultimately lower total cost of ownership.

"With Celtix 1.0, users have access to powerful infrastructure software that can help speed their adoption of SOA by mitigating both financial risk and the risk of vendor lock-in," commented Debbie Moynihan, director, Open Source Programs, IONA. "The Celtix community has delivered an important technology that rivals that of many commercial vendors and can be an important piece of ongoing enterprise SOA deployments."

Features in Celtix 1.0 include:

-- Advanced Java Support: Celtix 1.0 is the only ESB, either open source or commercially available, to include a full JAX-WS 2.0 implementation. Support for the Java API for XML-based Web services provides users the easiest way to Web service enable existing Java applications for use in a SOA. The inclusion of JMX-based management capabilities gives users greater visibility and control over their Celtix-based SOA.

-- Multiple Messaging Options: The multiple messaging options in Celtix 1.0 provide users with greater flexibility to choose the messaging option that best meets their particular SOA requirements. In addition to a JMS implementation, Celtix 1.0 also provides WS-ReliableMessaging, offering a standards-based option for reliably delivering SOAP messages over HTTP.

-- Support for Dynamic Scripting Languages: Celtix 1.0 gives users the option to compose Celtix applications using JavaScript or ECMAScript for XML (E4X). The ability of Celtix to support dynamic scripting languages gives users an effective means to get their SOA deployments rapidly up and running and the freedom to easily adapt them as business requirements change.

-- Adherence to Industry Standards: In addition to a native, lightweight SOAP stack that does not require deployment with a Web server, Celtix 1.0 also includes a WS-Addressing implementation and the ability to support emerging standards including Java Business Integration (JBI) and Service Component Architecture (SCA).

"A stable implementation of an ESB in the ObjectWeb code base is what our community has been waiting for since the beginning of our ESB initiative. Celtix 1.0 provides ObjectWeb with an industry-grade, core ESB engine that matches this expectation," said Christophe Ney, ObjectWeb Chief Architect. "Celtix 1.0 is an important step toward strengthening collaborations between our members around a common ESB framework."

For more information about ObjectWeb Celtix, or to become involved in the Celtix community, please visit http://celtix.objectweb.org. For information about how IONA's services packages for Celtix users can help maximize the success of Celtix-based SOA, please visit http://www.iona.com/info/services/oss/.

About IONA

For more than a decade, IONA(R) Technologies (NASDAQ: IONA) has been a world leader in delivering high-performance integration solutions for Global 2000 IT environments. IONA pioneered standards-based integration with its CORBA-based Orbix(R) products. Artix(TM), IONA's extensible Enterprise Service Bus, enables existing enterprise systems to be integrated with an organization's common infrastructure components. IONA's sponsorship of the ObjectWeb Celtix open source ESB is a natural extension of the company's history of solving integration problems by leveraging open standards and distributed architectures.

IONA is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts and offices worldwide. For additional information about IONA, visit our Web site at http://www.iona.com.

About ObjectWeb

Founded in 2002 by Bull, France Telecom and INRIA, ObjectWeb is a consortium of leading companies and research organizations from around the world who have joined forces to produce next generation of Open Source Middleware. ObjectWeb's goal is to provide Real-Time Enterprises with independent solutions that combine quality and robustness at the best possible performance/cost ratio.

ObjectWeb targets alternative solutions to proprietary products for e-business, business integration, data connectivity, grid computing, and enterprise messaging. Based on Open Standards, ObjectWeb's middleware includes application servers, components, frameworks and tools. Examples of ObjectWeb's "cost killer" middleware are JOnAS - an Open Source certified implementation of the J2EE(tm) specification, JORAM - a Message Oriented Middleware and Enhydra - a Java(tm)/XML Application Server.

http://www.objectweb.org

IONA, IONA Technologies, the IONA logo, Orbix, High Performance Integration, Artix, Mobile Orchestrator and Making Software Work Together are trademarks or registered trademarks of IONA Technologies PLC and/or its subsidiaries. CORBA is a trademark or registered trademark of the Object Management Group, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Java, J2EE, and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks that may appear herein are the property of their respective owners.