March 09, 2001, 9:38 AM — SOAP [the Simple Object Access Protocol] is a much-discussed but little-seen scheme
to make XML a more potent computing element. The tools to ease SOAP implementation
are beginning to appear, but who will use those tools is not yet clear.
Programmers are likely to have a role in XML system development, but system
analysts and business analysts may eventually play a greater role, according
to the head of CapeClear Software, a startup company creating tools for SOAP
development. Based in Dublin, Ireland, CapeClear is a new player in a field
that includes a variety of XML services and products, with many that boast support
for the SOAP dialect.
Companies in that field include Excelon, WebMethods, XML Solutions, IBM, Hewlett-Packard,
and Microsoft.
This week, CapeClear announced an Early Access program and the alpha release
of CapeConnect Two for J2EE. Annrai O'Toole, the company's executive chairman,
positions CapeConnect as a Web Services Platform for J2EE and Enterprise JavaBeans
(EJB). It brings XML, in the form of SOAP support, to systems based on Java
application servers.
At heart, SOAP is an object-oriented RPC mechanism that uses XML for encoding
requests and HTTP as a transport mechanism. Industry powerhouses Microsoft,
IBM and, more recently, Sun are among those that have endorsed SOAP as a means
to use the Web (read: HTTP) to transport a full-fledged system with properties
such as those in programmable distributed computer environments.
In effect, O'Toole said, the CapeClear offering is an XML server that can automatically
and dynamically generate SOAP XML from J2EE or EJB components.
O'Toole used some shorthand to describe CapeConnect Two: "It's a server
you bring in. You point [an app server] at it, and it generates SOAP interfaces.
You can then customize operations at a scripting level using XML and JavaScript."
The ability for script jockeys to take on more customization tasks, while Java
programmers maintain what O'Toole describes as the hard business logic, is an
important one, he said.
CapeClear comes to XML with considerable middleware experience. Along with
other Trinity College teachers and students, O'Toole helped found Dublin-based
Iona Technology, a firm that evolved from a specialty house with an early position
in the CORBA ORB (object-request broker) middleware market to become a significant
force in the application server market. O'Toole still holds a financial position
in Iona and serves on its board.
He sees SOAP and XML as an obvious evolutionary step beyond CORBA and J2EE.
"J2EE is built on the shoulders of giants. CORBA forged a whole notion
of what a middleware platform was," O'Toole said, "then Java came
along and a lot of ideas CORBA promoted were recast into Java."
The small number of programmers skilled in the CORBA IDL (Interface Definition
Language) has always been an issue, while Java, by comparison, appears to be
a mass movement. But many experts suggest that a shortage of Java programmers
exists as well.
"That's an issue that J2EE doesn't address, and which was also a bit of
a stumbling block for CORBA," O'Toole said.
To create distributed systems today, he said, "you need to a be very sophisticated
developer.
"What XML and all this SOAP stuff is doing is taking these concepts and
dumbing them down -- making them accessible for a much larger audience."
That suggests, O'Toole admitted, that business analysts and system analysts
may play a greater role in XML than in Java.
Such trends have not been lost on players such as IBM, but O'Toole estimated
that CapeClear's chances against that competitor are good. IBM, he said, delivers
much of its SOAP development expertise through WebSphere, its flagship middleware
application server.
"They bring you inside WebSphere to do SOAP. We were saying that's
all rocket science. That's what is changing," O'Toole said. "If you
look at what the technologies around XML buy you, they let you customize how
an app behaves without touching the core business logic in the Enterprise JavaBeans."
Of course, he adds, somebody somewhere still has to write the complex business
logic and schema.
