Sun Gets Serious About SOA

Sun's Kitty Hawk aims high
By Martin LaMonica
CNET News.com
June 29, 2004, 2:55 PM PT

Sun Microsystems detailed this week a plan called Project Kitty Hawk to redesign its back-end corporate Java software to be more modular and cost-effective.

At the JavaOne conference Monday, the company said it will rework its Java Enterprise System server software suite and Java Studio programming tools to simplify the process of building a services-oriented architecture, or SOA, a modular system design meant to reduce the cost of running computing systems. With a SOA, developers design applications so they can reuse a single "service," such as a product price check, for different applications.

The changes to Sun's software, which Sun will be rolling out over the next two years, will be coupled with consulting services, including a "SOA Readiness Assessment" program.

Sun said the product enhancements of Project Kitty Hawk will make it easier for software developers to write Web services applications using Java. For example, a product under development, code-named Project Disco, will give programmers a visual tool for assembling applications using a Web services language called Business Process Execution Language for automating business processes, according to people familiar with Sun's plans.

Project Kitty Hawk will let developers "find, assemble and deliver applications based on a services-oriented architecture using Java Web services," said Joe Keller, Sun's vice president of marketing for Java Web services and developer tools.