Implementing CORBA

Eric Leach (100010.3012@compuserve.com)
19 Jan 96 05:26:52 EST

IMPLEMENTING CORBA TUTORIAL

Cumberland Hotel, London, 21st & 22nd February 1996

The Object Management Group (OMG) Common Object Request Broker Architecture
(CORBA) specification is expected to be the key enabling technology for
distributed applications.

The first version of CORBA (1.0) was adopted by OMG in October 1991. It provides
the mechanisms by which objects transparently make and receive requests and
responses. CORBA 2.0, adopted in December 1994, standardises interoperability
between machines running different Object Request Brokers. CORBA 2.0-conformant
systems are now being developed and deployed by independent software developers
and end-users.

But what are the key aspects of CORBA? How does it work? And how does one set
about taking advantage of the technology? Who has already implemented this
technology?
What are their experiences? This two day tutorial is dedicated to answering
these questions - and more.

CORBA implementors, adopters and users who will share their experiences include
representatives from BT, THE HOME OFFICE, IBM, ICL, IONA TECHNOLOGIES, MITRE,
NEURON DATA, OMG, STANFORD SOFTWARE, SSA and TRADEPOINT.

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

This Tutorial, sponsored by OMG, will provide participants with information for
managers and developers. It is led by an experienced CORBA systems' architect
who has designed and implemented applications on a variety of CORBA-based
products. Many vendors and users will also share their experiences in designing,
implementing and using CORBA-based software.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

The intended audience for this Tutorial includes managers and developers of
object oriented and legacy applications in networked environments.
The level of the Tutorial is introductory in nature on Day 1, and more advanced
topics are dealt with on Day 2; a familiarity with software systems is assumed.

TUTORIAL LEADER

The Tutorial Leader is Thomas J. Mowbray, Ph.D., The MITRE Corporation. Thomas
J. Mowbray is a Principal Scientist in the Open Systems Center at
MITRE-Washington, USA. He is the co-author of the OMG/Wiley book "The ESSENTIAL
CORBA: System Integration Using Distributed Objects" (ISBN 0471106119). He is
also the bi-monthly Architectures columnist for OBJECT Magazine. Dr. Mowbray has
experience applying CORBA to multiple application domains, and has programmed
applications on several ORB products. Dr. Mowbray is also the Chairman of the
OMG's CORBAfacilities Task Force, the OMG group chartered with the
standardisation of horizontal application frameworks and vertical market
facilities.

THE CORBA IMPERATIVE

CORBA 1.0/2.0 implementations are in various stages of development and adoption
by many vendors, including Candle, Digital Equipment, Expersoft, Fujitsu,
Genesis, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, ICL, Iona Technologies, NetLinks,
PostModern Computing, NeXT, SunSoft and Unisys.

CORBA USERS

End-user CORBA implementations in place or in development include those at:
Alcatel, Bank of Boston, Bell South, Boeing, Britannia Building Society, British
Airways, BT, Caterpillar, Chemical Bank, Continental Airlines, Country Life
Insurance, Daimler-Benz, Defense Information Systems Agency, Goldman Sachs, The
Home Office, Hydro-Electric, ITT Hartford Life & Annuity, Long Island Lighting
Company, MITRE, National Security Agency, Nat West Insurance Services, Nomura,
Ontario Hydro, Prudential Insurance Co. of America, R J Reynolds, Servasure,
Tradepoint, US West, Vodafone, Wells Fargo.

THE OBJECT MANAGEMENT GROUP

The Object Management Group (OMG) is the prime driving force in the world of
object technology and is an international organisation supported by over 570
information system vendors, software developers, consultants and users. The
organisation's charter includes the establishment of industry guidelines and
object management specifications to provide a common framework for application
development. Conformance to these specifications will make it possible to
develop a heterogeneous applications environment across all major hardware
platforms and operating systems. 17 of the world's top 20 software developers
are OMG members. Of the world's top 20 IT suppliers, 18 are OMG members.

Tutorial Programme - Day One
21st February, 1996

INTRODUCTION TO CORBA

08.30 am Coffee & Registration

09.00 am
The Context for CORBA
by Eric Leach, Founder, ELM

Why does the world need to move to Object Technology and Distributed
Applications? How will CORBA-based technology finally deliver on promises made
by IT/IS to management over and over again, but not kept since the 1970's? And
how is OMG gearing itself up to directly help and empower users in an
organisation which is adding a new global member every working day? The speaker
will attempt to answer these questions, and set the scene for the tutorial.

09.30 am
Introduction to CORBA
by Thomas J. Mowbray

This session opens with a full technical description of CORBA. The OMG Object
Model is based on objects, operations, types and subtyping. It provides a
standard, commonly understood set of terms with which to describe an object
service's (CORBAservices) behaviour. CORBA architecture is embodied in the OMG
Reference Model, whose component parts are the CORBA ORB, CORBAservices,
CORBAfacilities, Domain Interfaces and Application Interfaces. The Interface
Definition Language (OMG IDL) is described in detail, along with discussions on
language mappings, the Dynamic Invocation Interface (DII), Object Adapters and
Static Interfaces.

10.30 am Coffee

11.00 am
Introduction to CORBA
by Thomas J. Mowbray

The session continues with a description of the CORBA 2.0 Extensions, which
includes Interoperability, Initialisation, C++ Binding, and the Interface
Repository. The presenter then reviews, from a technical perspective, some of
the major ORB products available in the marketplace, including DAIS, Distributed
Smalltalk, DSOM, NEO, Object Broker, Orbix, Orbeline and PowerBroker

12.30 pm Lunch

STREAM 1

02.00 pm

CORBA Case Studies

UK Home Office - Suspect Index Systems for Immigration Control
by Ken Robinson, Assistant Director, Home Office Immigration Service

In the Home Office Immigration Service, ICL is using its DAIS ORB to handle the
complex networking requirements on a multi-media application. The system reads
passports automatically and displays photographs and handwritten documents. It
allows immigration staff to check passports against an ORACLE database of
'suspects' and is in use at 70 UK points of entry, including Heathrow, Gatwick
and Dover. During the Summer of 1995 the system scanned 6 million passports and
down-loaded 10,000 images.

STREAM 2

02.00 pm
The Market for Distributed Objects with CORBA
by Dr. Katy Ring, Consultant, Ovum

This presentation examines the current state of distributed object computing and
its future development. It looks at the developing market for technologies and
products to create and support distributed object systems. It examines the rise
of 'componentware' and describes the 'virtual mainframe' systems which can be
created using distributed object technology. It puts initiatives such as
Microsoft's OLE and the OMG's CORBA in context with other approaches to
Middleware, both proprietary and standards-based, tactical and strategic.

03.30 TEA

STREAM 1

04.00 pm
A CORBA-based Distributed Computing Architecture
by Samit Khosla, Technical Director, EMEA & India, SSA

SSA's BPCS Client/Server Distributed Object Computing Architecture (DOCA)
embodies a messaging infrastructure which conforms to the CORBA standard. It
exploits the native ORB (DSOM on IBM platforms and ORB-Plus on HP-UX) for its
cross-domain communication. Additionally DOCA exploits many of the
CORBAservices. The presenter will describe DOCA and detail why CORBA was chosen
and how it is implemented.

STREAM 2

04.00 pm
CORBA Case Study

The Tradepoint Investment Exchange
by Peter Bennett, Executive Director, Tradepoint

The Tradepoint Investment Exchange provides computer assisted trading services
for UK equities to leading brokers/dealers and fund mangers. Iona Technologies'
Orbix ORB is used to make it as easy as possible for customers to connect their
trading and decision support system to the trading system, allowing clients to
access the system from any operating system or language, (e.g., C++ or Visual
Basic via the CORBA-OLE integration).

BT Information Services Supermarket
by Patrick Farley, Senior Software Engineer, BT

BT Laboratories has devised the concept of an Information Services Supermarket
through which BT could offer multi-media services to customers in the same
accessible way that supermarkets retail conventional products today. This talk
will discuss how the Orbix ORB will play a major role in this supermarket of the
future.

05.30 pm END

Tutorial Programme - Day Two
22nd February, 1996

ADVANCED CORBA

08.30 am Coffee & Registration

09.00 am
Advanced CORBA
by Thomas J. Mowbray

The session opens with a review of CORBAservices, and an overview of design
principles, the CORBAservices process, and the OMG approved CORBAservices. This
is followed by an overview of CORBAfacilities and a discussion on CORBA
migration which compares CORBA with previous technologies and presents the
concept of the Integration Capability Maturity Model.

10.30 am Coffee

11.00 am
Advanced CORBA
by Thomas J. Mowbray

The session begins with discussion on OO Architecture - the need for it, its
relationship with CORBA and key design principles. This final session compares
CORBA with OLE/COM. Direct comparisons are made between the two technologies;
various integration approaches are summarised; distributed object infrastructure
issues are identified; and recommendations are made for systems integrators.

12.30 pm Lunch

STREAM 1

01.45 pm
Supporting Transactions over a Distributed ORB
by Iain Houston, Development Programmer, IBM

This presentation focuses on Transactions, why you need them and how the OMG
Object Transaction Service supports transactions over a distributed Object
Request Broker. The presenter will also cover other CORBAservices, including
Naming, Persistence, Concurrency Control and Security. He will also detail how
future CORBAservices will support robust distributed applications.

STREAM 2

01.45 pm
OLE Integration
by Jean-Marie Chauvet, VP Technology, Neuron Data

OLE and CORBA from the OMG are poised as competing standards vying for
technological supremacy in the world of object-based applications.
In as much as the economical benefits of OT - namely reliability, usability and
reusability - are to be realised, integration of OLE to the CORBA software
architecture is critical. In this technical presentation, the focus is on
classifying the various approaches to CORBA/OLE integration and assessing their
benefits and disadvantages.

STREAM 1

02.40 pm
Interoperability
by Andrew Watson, Director, Architecture, OMG

CORBA 2.0 allows ORBs from different vendors to interoperate. This strictly
vendor-to-vendor issue was resolved by the OMG adoption of a combined technology
submission. The technology is based on combining the "Universal Networked
Objects" submission and the "DCE" submission. This presentation will explain the
history, workings and significance of the CORBA 2.0 interoperability standard.

STREAM 2

02.40 pm
CORBAsecurity
by Tony Drahota, Chief DAIS Architect, ICL

In this talk Tony Drahota, joint Chair of the OMG Security Special Interest
Group, will explain the security problems faced by distributed applications
based on Object Request Brokers, the requirements of the commercial market and
how the new OMG CORBA Security Service will address these issues. Tony will
animate his talk by reference to specific situations and examples.

STREAM 1

03.30 pm
CORBAfacilities, Domain Interfaces and Application Interfaces
by Thomas J. Mowbray

CORBAfacilities provide a set of generic application functions that can be
configured to the specific requirements of a particular configuration. These are
facilities that sit close to the user, such as printing, document management,
database, and electronic mail facilities. Standardisation leads to uniformity in
generic operations and to better options for end users for configuring their
working environments.

STREAM 2

03.30 pm
CORBAfinancials
by Jack Hassall, Technical Director, Stanford Software

Suppliers and end-users in financial markets have a significant need for the
interoperability and portability benefits provided by current and future OMG
standards. OMG standards work in this sector is concentrated in the activities
of the Finance Special Interest Group (F-SIG). The presenter, the F-SIG Chair,
will outline the group's mission, work in progress and future roadmap.

05.00 pm PANEL

05.30 pm END

BOOKING INFORMATION

There are three participation options: Days 1 & 2, Day 1 or Day 2

IMPLEMENTING CORBA
TUTORIAL DAYS 1 & 2
21st & 22nd February 1996
L595 + VAT
Price includes:
Two day tutorial
Copies of slides
A copy of "The Essential CORBA: System Integration Using Distributed
Objects", by Thomas J. Mowbray and Ron Zahavi.
OMG Information Pack
Coffee, lunch and tea.

INTRODUCTION TO CORBA
TUTORIAL DAY Day 1
21st February 1996
L365 + VAT
Price includes:
One day tutorial
Copies of slides
A copy of "The Essential CORBA: System Integration Using Distributed
Objects", by Thomas J. Mowbray and Ron Zahavi.
OMG Information Pack
Coffee, lunch and tea.

ADVANCED CORBA
TUTORIAL Day 2
22nd February 1996
L365 + VAT
Price includes:
One day tutorial
Copies of slides
A copy of "The Essential CORBA: System Integration Using Distributed
Objects", by Thomas J. Mowbray and Ron Zahavi.
OMG Information Pack
Coffee, lunch and tea.

To obtain a booking form:

Telephone:
+44 -181 570 2182

Fax:
+44-181 572 3163

Email:
CompuServe: 100010,3012
Internet:100010,3012@CompuServe.com.

BONA FIDE STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS CAN CLAIM A 50% DISCOUNT OFF THE
TUTORIAL PRICE.