Iona Technologies Ltd has gone to Electronic Data Systems Inc for technology it plans to use for a forthcoming graphical server application builder. The tool will be included with Iona’s Art product, its implementation of its Corba 3.0 common object request broker, due out in December (CI No 3,492). It is intended to help simplify the task of developing distributed component applications. Iona has paid Plano, Texas-based EDS $5m for the software, and will write-off that amount during its third quarter for in process research and development charges. Neither Iona or EDS were available by press time to provide more details about where the technology came from, but EDS has been working with its large customers on component-based development and integration work for some time. Most of the talk has been centered around extending Microsoft’s Component Object Model technology towards the multiple platforms that Corba supports. The server builder is expected to automate the development of components, wrap existing software and data for presentation as components, help integrate components with ERP, legacy and proprietary systems, and help with component interoperability.
