Web services-based application server interoperability: standards pave the way. (Interoperability).

The future of application servers, including WebSphere, lies in refining functionality that allows applications to be treated as services. This includes allowing future applications to be reusable as well as interoperable with alder standards-based applications, such as CORBA. It is easy to discuss, but the actual act of integrating services can be extremely complicated.

This article will discuss interoperability between Web services, J2EE, and CORBA from Windows, through Unix to the main frame, highlighting:

* The exposure of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) as Web services

* The exposure of CORBA objects as Web services

* The interoperability of CORBA and Enterprise JavaBeans: CORBA calling EJBs, EJBs calling CORBA

* Transactional interoperability, which becomes increasingly important as more computer languages are developed

* Security (including HTTPS, SAML/XKML, CSIv2, TLS/SSL, RACF), which also becomes an issue as the technologies are used to transfer sensitive materials that need to remain private

Three important technologies exist that are able to support the concept of distributed applications based on broadly accepted standards. Those are Web services and .NET, Enterprise JavaBeans/J2EE, and CORBA. …