| About InfoWorld : Advertise : Subscribe : Contact Us : Awards : Events : Store |
 |
||||
|
||||
 | ||||
 |
|
|||
 |
||||
|
|
|
||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 TEST CENTER HP's call to Web action By James R. Borck May 11, 2001 Netaction Software Suite delivers solid component architectures but lacks tight integration
Netaction provides a solid framework for business-to-business infrastructure with the rebundling and acquisition of several key software components, including Process Manager and HP Bluestone Total-e-Server. The suite also represents the first commercially supported release of the e-Speak platform, which competes for dominance in the Web services arena. HP has added to e-Speak strictly enforceable end-to-end security, a feature that eludes competing platforms. Although e-Speak remains primarily proprietary, HP has wisely taken steps to ensure interoperability with technologies such as UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). The Netaction suite still lacks cohesiveness. Even HP representatives had difficulty getting their hands on certain components for us. But as the Netaction components become a more unified product arsenal, HP is well-positioned to compete against the likes of IBM WebSphere and Microsoft .NET. Netaction's most impressive boon comes from HP Bluestone Total-e-Server 7.3. The Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)-compatible middleware application server sports scalable performance, load balancing and caching, state management, and good models for distributed transaction processing. Although the suite's management and development toolset is solid, the Web services-specific tools are minimal. Netaction includes the latest e-Speak A3.11 Service Engine, the core APIs and platform run time for creating and deploying Web services. This version replaces its Service Bus architecture with an SDK (software development kit) framework for SOAP services. Improvements to e-Speak, such as remote service management tools and the new Desktop Service Manager interface, round out the platform. Unfortunately, we found problems including memory leaks that quickly bogged down our system. The platform could benefit from more developer-friendly application samples and tutorials. For migrating applications to Web services, you'll need to look only at the individual e-Speak components and the freely available Total-e-Server Developer Edition, rather than at the full Netaction Suite. As other key pieces of the Netaction puzzle are integrated, such as support for Web services under OpenView, HP could emerge as a contender in the software application market for e-business solutions.  James R. Borck (james_borck@infoworld.com) writes InfoWorld's Enterprise Strategies.
 RELATED ARTICLES  Next-generation e-bizJump-start developersPlugging in Web appsRELATED SUBJECTS Software DevelopmentE-CommerceApp devSPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
SPONSORED LINKS
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
