Sun Deal Targets SOA Development

Sun Microsystems Inc. and SeeBeyond Technology Corp. Tuesday announced a partnership aimed at tying the Sun Java Enterprise System to SeeBeyonds product suite to drive service-oriented architecture development for customers.

As part of the agreement, Monrovia, Calif.-based SeeBeyond will port some of its SeeBeyond ICAN (Integration Composite Application Network) 5 Suite to Santa Clara, Calif.-based Suns JES, beginning with SeeBeyonds eGate Integrator 5 platform to the Sun Java System Application Server 8. Initial target areas will be RFID and portal applications, with a joint solution being sold by both companies, Sun and SeeBeyond officials said.

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The joint RFID solution will be available for customers to see in action at Suns RFID Test Center in Dallas, according to the companies. The joint solution includes Suns Java System RFID software and SeeBeyonds RFID Composite Application Network product. Suns technology will process RFID data and feed it to SeeBeyonds system for distribution to enterprise customers backend systems.

Click here to read more about Suns RFID initiatives.

On the portal side, Suns Java System Portal Server will integrate with the SeeBeyond products, including the SeeBeyond eInsight ESB, an enterprise service bus technology, for building applications for delivery through Suns portal technology.

Stephen OGrady, an analyst with market research firm RedMonk LLC, of Bath, Maine, said: "I think the tie-up is a logical partnership for both parties, and addresses what has been a weakness within the JES offering. For Sun to continue building JES momentum, its critical that the platform be able to address the growing interest and need for service-oriented approaches. That requires, of course, a strong integration platform, which SeeBeyond can provide, and which standalone JES lacks. As for SeeBeyond, I think the opportunity here is to tap into new markets that JES can touch, particularly in the medium business arena."

Ronald Schmelzer, an analyst with ZapThink LLC, in Waltham, Mass., said: "In SeeBeyonds case, they have been talking an SOA blue streak for a while, but didnt have much to show in the way of infrastructure that was truly loosely coupled, coarse-grained, and allowed for real reusability of services. The movement to a proper SOA platform will help them execute on their SOA plans.

"In Suns case, they finally can claim a major software vendor to their SOA platform, which has been mostly claims to date about their SOA capabilities, with little major customer or ISV vendor wins announced to date. This announcement should keep them viable in a market dominated by IBM, BEA, Sonic, and others who have been producing SOA infrastructure for years."

Schmelzers partner Jason Bloomberg said he sees things a little differently. "Sun and SeeBeyond are still stuck with their Java blinders on the world of SOA, and customers can expect more of the same from them," he said. "Sure, companies can build perfectly good SOA implementations on Java, but both Sun and SeeBeyond are missing the fundamental fact that enterprises look to SOA to deal with mixed technologies that are by definition not Java-centric."

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