Java Caps

History

Java CAPS was originally a product of SeeBeyond Technology Corporation named Integrated Composite Application Network Suite (ICAN). It was renamed to Sun Java Composite Application Platform Suite (Java CAPS), after the acquisition of SeeBeyond by Sun Microsystems in 2005.

ICAN suite was a Java EE compliant platform and provided application-to-application integration, business-to-business integration, business process management along with integrated human workflow, an Enterprise Information Portal, extract transform and load (ETL), business activity monitoring and composite application development.

Version history

Initially the project was named DataGate, renamed to eGate in the late 1990s with a new distributed architecture. Monk, a LISP variant was used for translation of the messages.

eGate 4.5 was released in 2001 with enhanced support of Java including introduction of Java Message Service.

A new architecture based on J2EE (now Java EE) was launched in 2003 with version 5.0, using an Integrated Development Environment based on Netbeans. The suite was again renamed as ICAN. The Table Runtime Environment(TRE) upgraded Data Gate 3.6 to take advantage of eGate 5.0 tools, such as Enterprise Manager.

In 2005, Sun took over SeeBeyond and the first updated release from Sun was Java CAPS 5.1 with a few enhancements in the architecture.

In 2008, Java CAPS 6 was launched including Netbeans 6.1, GlassFish v2 and OpenESB v2.

In 2009, Java CAPS 6.2 version was launched with NetBeans IDE 6.5.1 and GlassFish Enterprise Server 2.1 patch 2. This version also introduced an adapter for HL7 messaging.

In 2010, Sun was acquired by Oracle and in 2011, Oracle released Java CAPS 6.3 version which includes NetBeans IDE 6.9 and GlassFish Enterprise Server 2.1.1.

Suite components

ICAN 5.0 consisted of following components:

1. eGate Integrator,
2. eInsight Business Process Manager,
3. eVision Studio,
4. ePortal Composer,
5. eTL Integrator,
6. eXchange Integrator,
7. eView Studio,
8. eIndex Global Identifier Compsite Application and
9. eBAM Studio.

Since Java CAPS 5, the suite comprises adapters, libraries and an IDE for designing, writing, monitoring and testing business processes. The principal ones are:

Logicalhost: hosts the applications deployed in it. Until Java CAPS 5, Sun Java System Application Server 9 was used. In version 6, the host became GlassFish to support JEE. Typically, the logicalhost runs on a dedicated machine and when started, refers to a domain, which is an instance of the Sun Enterprise Service Bus.Repository: a version control system which allows shared projects, version history and file-lock capabilities.Enterprise designer: Enterprise designer is an Integrated development environment to browse the repository, create business processes, collaborations, connectivity maps and deployment profiles. Business processes are defined with BPEL. BPEL is not tied specifically to web services, rather it defines the execution of activities, inputs/outputs and possible exceptions in the message flow.Enterprise manager: the web portal to monitor the information flow through the BPEL diagrams, server logs, activity details, business processes' parameters and data.

One of the major features exposed by Java CAPS is its adapters; these adapters are JCA compliant and offer legacy system integration.

Java CAPS 6 vs Java CAPS 5

Java CAPS 6 has some distinct features when compared to Java CAPS 5.1.x

1. NetBeans 6.1 is used for Java CAPS IDE. Netbeans 6.1 has plugins to support the standard Java CAPS 5.1.3 editors and it has a unified project view, editors for Java Collaboration Definition, BPEL etc. and a runtime environment of IDE.
2. Sun Java application server 9.1(GlassFish V2) is used as Java CAPS runtime environment and its admin console can be used for management and administration of Java CAPS runtime components.
3. Java CAPS 6 provides support for Java Business Integration (JBI). JBI has two types of component: Binding component(communication protocols) and SE service Engine(business logic). Both JBI container and EE container are in sun app server. Java CAPS 6 provides interoperability between Java EE and JBI components via JBI bridge.
4. Java CAPS 6 support three types of messaging servers:
   * JMS IQ manager(stcms),
   * Java message service grid
   * Java MQ4.1
5. Java CAPS 6 also provides supports for sub Java collaboration.

Java CAPS 6 includes installation enhancement (wizard based Java CAPS installer) and management and monitoring improvements.

Future of Java CAPS

After Sun was acquired by Oracle, Oracle incorporated features and functions of Sun SOA products to Oracle SOA products. Oracle offers migration tools which helps in migration of Java CAPS projects to the Oracle SOA Suite. The premier support of Java CAPS 6.3 has been extended until April 2016. Today (15Q1) Oracle does not promote the product any more and push the users to a migration to Oracle SOA suite. Nevertheless, OpenESB, the open source version of Java CAPS is backed by a strong community and can be seen as an alternative for companies that want to protect their investments.