sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sunflash@suntri sunflash-Send requests and problem reports to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunSoft Announces Shipment of Developers DOE SunFLASH Vol 54 #27 June 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54.27 SunSoft Announces Shipment of Developers DOE First distributed object environment based on specifications from the Object Management Group (OMG). This release is the second milestone in Project DOE* (Distributed Objects Everywhere). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Laura Ramsey, SunSoft, Inc. 415-336-0739 Contact: Emily Cohen, Hi-Tech Communications 415-904-7000 x264 SUNSOFT DELIVERS FIRST DISTRIBUTED OBJECT ENVIRONMENT FOR THE ENTERPRISE Key Component of Project DOE ObjectWorld, SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 15, 1993 -- SunSoft, Inc. today announced shipment of the developers release of the first distributed object environment based on specifications from the Object Management Group (OMG (R)) to key software developers and end users. This release is the second milestone in Project DOE(TM) (Distributed Objects Everywhere), SunSoft's effort to move users to a new computing paradigm where modular applications are created out of distributed objects that "plug and play" across multiple platforms. It is the first distributed object environment to specifically target the enterprise-wide computing market, enabling corporate users to access and utilize data management, computational and multimedia resources across networks anywhere in the world. The new distributed object environment consists of SunSoft's Distributed Object Management Facility (DOMF) -- an OMG-compliant Object Request Broker (ORB(TM)) conforming to the CORBA standard -- and a set of Object Services including naming, event notification, association and properties services. It is a foundation which allows software developers to integrate existing applications and create new objects that seamlessly interoperate with each other, protecting their current investment while moving to the new DOE paradigm. "Distributed object technology is the next wave in enterprise computing," said Guy (Bud) L. Tribble, vice president of object products at SunSoft. "Today's announcement reinforces the significant investment SunSoft has made in the objects arena in terms of technology, people and customers." "An object request broker is not enough to build the kind of distributed object applications we expect and our customers require," said Steve Rothman, managing director, solution delivery at Andersen Consulting. "We need a range of standard object services that will speed up the development of distributed applications and allow us to reap the benefits of request brokers such as SunSoft's DOMF. The foundation announced by SunSoft today provides tools to allow us to begin developing applications." Distributed Object Environment: A Powerful Foundation The Object Services and development tools included in the distributed object environment will enable software developers to begin creating distributed applications using objects today while shielding them from low- level transport protocols. The Object Services are based on the Joint Object Services Submission (JOSS), submitted to OMG in February 1993 by SunSoft and 20 other companies. The DOMF provides basic object communications and management services, forming the backbone for Project DOE. The DOMF dramatically simplifies the creation of distributed applications, providing transport- and location-independent access to objects, enabling objects to communicate with each other regardless of their location within the network. An ORB Is Not Enough The Object Services included in the distributed object environment comprise a foundation upon which developers can build feature-rich and flexible applications. They include: -- Naming Service -- providing developers with an easy way to find objects on the network. Taking a human-readable name for any object, the naming service resolves the name to an object reference which the DOMF uses to guarantee connection to the object, even if the object is moved to another location on the network. -- Event Notification Service -- allows objects distributed across the network to work in concert with each other and enables an object to signal another object when an event occurs. -- Association Service -- used to build compound objects or assemble groups of objects. Using simple interfaces defined in the OMG standard IDL (Interface Definition Language), developers can build a plug-together application that, for example, combines various data sources at run-time, mixing and matching the data depending on the users' needs. -- Properties Service -- enables developers and users to attach descriptors to an object although they may not be the "creator" of the object. Project DOE The first milestone in SunSoft's Project DOE was the ToolTalk interapplication communication software, which has been endorsed by more than 50 hardware and software companies. It was recently adopted by IBM, HP, SCO, Univel and USL as part of the common open software environment. SunSoft is one of the founding members of the OMG and has led several of its standards efforts, starting with the CORBA specification. SunSoft also led the effort to standardize the specification for IDL (Interface Definition Language), the OMG-standard interface for objects. SunSoft also sponsors the Distributed Object Council (DOC), a group of leading object developers and major end users who meet frequently with the company to review product specifications and plans and provide feedback. Availability SunSoft will make this developers release of the distributed object environment available immediately to selected software developers and end users. SunSoft will unveil additional details about Project DOE later this year. SunSoft, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc. The company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. SunSoft is a leading supplier of 32-bit system software solutions for SPARC and Intel 80386/486-based computers. The products are licensed by SunSoft and distributed through major computer manufacturers and resellers worldwide. ### (C) 1993, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SunSoft, Solaris, ToolTalk and DOE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ORB is a trademark and OMG is a registered trademark of the Object Management Group. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. 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