European Open Source Foundation Introduces First SOA for Cloud Computing

European Open Source Foundation Introduces First SOA for Cloud Computing
Open Source Business Foundation securely creates a bridge between Java and .NET 
 
Nuremberg/Hanover, March 4, 2009 -- The Open Source Business Foundation (OSFB) (http://osbf.de/en),
the non-profit European open source business network, announced today a platform that, for the
first time, leverages service-oriented architecture (SOA) for cloud computing.
 
The Internet Service Bus (ISB) makes online applications accessible as a service via an integrated
web application ? enabling developers to easily access and use existing, proven code to build
applications. At the same time, ISB creates a bridge between the Java and the .NET world. 
 
"Cloud computing is the future," said Andreas Hartl, head of the OSBF Interoperability project
group and Director of Platform Strategy at Microsoft Germany. "That's why, when we launched our
group in summer 2008, we defined two projects ISB and Identity Network Service (INS) both of
which focus squarely on customer requirements. The ISB makes it possible for services of different
developers in the cloud to communicate with one another. And the INS allows users to access a
number of combined services with a single sign-on to the cloud." 
 
INS permits secure online authentication and authorization by single sign-on for the first time in
cloud environments. For private and B2B users, the project not only points out specific application
scenarios for cloud computing, it also provides software manufacturers, integrators and hosters
with an important technology module that offers the possibility of new, cloud-based business
models. 
 
The development consortium of the OSBF Interoperability project group consists of 1&1, Corisecio,
Microsoft, Open-Xchange and Sopera. 
 
A demo presented live today by the project group at the CeBIT conference in Germany showed how one
web application is sufficient to administer patient data, securely, from different sources. To
ensure that personal data is protected, authorized nursing staff are given specific access to
individual datasets. The ISB, which is based on the open source platform of German SOA specialist
Sopera, creates a bridge between the Java and the .NET world: it integrates the applications
Open-Xchange, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Virtual Earth to form one web-browser. All this is
completely transparent for users and application developers, making technical know-how unnecessary.
 
The basis of the ISB is the open source SOA platform Sopera ASF, which integrates both Java and
.NET applications as service providers. 
 
"Java and .NET are the predominant platforms for enterprise applications today as they will be
for cloud computing too," said Dr. Ricco Deutscher, managing director at Sopera. "The key to the
native integration of these two worlds is the ISB."
 
About the Open Source Business Foundation
The Open Source Business Foundation e.V. (OSBF),an association headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany,
is a European network of companies, institutions and individuals whose shared interests lie in open
source development and business models. For business founders and established companies from all
over Europe, OSBF is a business platform that not only offers them contacts but also supports and
promotes their business ideas. 
 
OSBF was established at the end of 2007 as the successor organisation of Linux Business Campus,
established in 2006. Today, OSBF has 150 members from all over Germany, Europe and the USA. In
addition to numerous small and medium-sized enterprises and large caps ? ranging from Agnitas to
Sopera, from Novell to Red Hat, from Intel to Deutsche Telekom ? the membership also includes
various institutions such as the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, the Fraunhofer
Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS), the Free University Berlin, the Friedrich-Alexander
University Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Nuremberg and Central
Franconia, and the City of Nuremberg.