ServiceLayer Provides Instant Web Services for Java Applications

AgileIT has delivered a beta release of its ServiceLayer technology, which is a run-time Java framework that enables users to dynamically add Web services to an existing Java application using a point-and-click interface.

Mark Hansen, founder of AgileIT, said ServiceLayer solves systems integration challenges by making Web services implementation projects fast and easy. The current beta release of ServiceLayer runs with Windows and Tomcat. Linux and other Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) containers will be supported soon.

With ServiceLayer, users can add Web services to production Java applications without writing code. ServiceLayer also enables users to start, stop, add and delete Web services without shutting down or disrupting production applications; and no changes are made to the Web-service-enabled applications.

ServiceLayer scans a program bytecode and provides a graphical user interface showing all the program's classes and methods that can be exposed as Web services. The user only needs to point-and-click to select the Web services they want to expose. No coding is required, and "no migration, recompilation or repackaging is needed either," Hansen said.

Hansen said ServiceLayer works by mirroring the bytecode of a Java program that its Web service enables. Only the bytecode related to those methods exposed as Web services is mirrored, he said. And "within its mirroring system ServiceLayer enhances its copies of the program's .class files by injecting bytecode to add the JAX-WS [Java API for XML Web Services] and JAXB [Java Architecture for XML Binding] annotations necessary for Web services support," Hansen said.

AgileIT invented the patent pending dynamic bytecode mirroring technology behind ServiceLayer and has spent the last three years doing the research and development necessary to bring it to market. Mark Hansen holds a Ph.D in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hansen has founded two other software firms: QDB Solutions – a database tools company; and Kinderhook Systems – an e-commerce integrator. Hansen also is the author of "SOA using Java Web Services," a reference guide for Web services developers.

Hansen said he believes ServiceLayer is a revolutionary tool for exploiting the power of Web services to speed systems integration. "With ServiceLayer, the Web service enablement portion of a systems integration project can be completed in a fraction of the time required by traditional programming techniques,” he said. “A Web services project, that would normally require a team of programmers several months to complete, can be implemented by a single person in a matter of days with ServiceLayer.” Meanwhile, AgileIT has launched its beta program.

Prospective beta test participants can apply to the program at: http://agileitinc.com/ApplyToBeta.html.

“The ideal candidate for the ServiceLayer beta test program is an enterprise with production Java applications that need to be Web-service-enabled quickly, without disruption to existing operations, and integrated with other internal or external applications," Hansen said.