Sources close to object software house Iona Technologies Ltd say the Dublin, Ireland-based company is quietly extending its Orbix ORB object request broker to support dynamic functions to help it grab a share of what it describes an emerging global internet operating system the industry is currently carving up. Having enabled Orbix for real-world applications such as transaction processing – OTM – and security, its next task is to incorporate the concept of a distributed virtual machine, a model popularized by Java, into Orbix. Promising to reshape the landscape of what an ORB is the new might enable applications to swap Corba, transaction processing and messaging services on the fly – in real-time – and to upload Java applications into C++ environments and visa versa. The project is codenamed Art. It’s going to leverage as much of the Object Management Group Corba 3.0 specification work as it can – see separate story this section. It’s not going to push the technology at typical object types but where the money is, the multimedia concerns. That’s why it’s co- authored a standard for managing and controlling AV audio-visual streams with heavyweights Lucent Technologies Inc and Siemens Nixdorf Informationssystemes AG that’s been endorsed by the Object management Group. Applications of the specification are expected to turn up in Corba-based multimedia conferencing, entertainment, bio-medical and security applications; distributed simulations or games; high-bandwidth instrumentation or real-time control; and the bulk transfer of data such as medical, images or software updates. Currently multiple proprietary AV streaming technologies pour over thousands of connections – opening and closing those connections and providing billing services are all hand-coded operations. Iona thinks Art technologies will be sold into these markets. For the telcos, Iona’s fitting Orbix with the ability to flow information to and from devices which use the Network Management Forum’s Telecommunications Management Network services, courtesy of a bridge being built for it by DSET Corp. It’s due in the first quarter of 1998. Meantime, the transaction processing-enabled Orbix OTM is up on HP-UX, Solaris and Windows NT. Iona expects most of its installed base to upgrade to the more functional OTM over time.
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