XML Technology Provider Orbeon Joins Objectweb ConsortiumXML Technology Provider Orbeon Joins Objectweb Consortium

Orbeon Inc., a Silicon Valley-based systems integrator specializing in XML-based integration and Web applications, and ObjectWeb, a consortium of leading companies and research organizations who have joined forces to produce next-generation of open source middleware, today announced that Orbeon joined the consortium and that the company's flagship project, PresentationServer, is now hosted by ObjectWeb. Orbeon's membership reinforces the consortium's U.S. presence and will provide XML-based software and additional expertise to the ObjectWeb community, while expanding Orbeon's global reach.

PresentationServer is deployed at Amnesty International, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Leapfrog, Wachovia, River Dynamics, QBE Insurance Group, The City of San Diego, CSC, and Teleflex. PresentationServer and the Eclipse-based Orbeon Studio, used to build applications based on this platform, are available through ObjectWeb. The code of these projects is distributed under the Lesser GNU General Public License (LGPL) and can be freely embedded, modified or redistributed.

PresentationServer introduces innovative functionality to the strong ObjectWeb middleware stack including support for XPL, a next-generation XML pipeline language. Thanks to this technology, Orbeon is one of the first companies to offer support for standards such as W3C XForms, XSLT 2.0, and Web services in a comprehensive XML platform.

"Due to our policy of maintaining a high level of quality in ObjectWeb's open-source middleware portfolio, we only accept a fraction of the project submissions. With PresentationServer, we expect to add another production-proven platform to our roster of open standards-based solutions in the domain of Web applications and business integration, currently one of the most extensive in the open-source world," said Jean-Pierre Laisne, ObjectWeb Chairman and Linux & Open-Source Strategy Manager with Bull. "By expanding its portfolio of application servers, workflow and orchestration engines, data transformation engines, portals and frameworks for software engineering, ObjectWeb continues to demonstrate that collaborative development of open source middleware is a viable option for mainstream market."

"Being part of the ObjectWeb consortium means Orbeon can access a larger user base while complementing the ObjectWeb middleware stack with a powerful range of XML modules necessary to build and deploy XML-centric applications. This is important because XML is increasingly being used as SOA and Web services gain momentum," said Omar Tazi, CEO, Orbeon. "By integrating OPS with JOnAS, among other ObjectWeb projects, we give our growing community access to high quality middleware."

PresentationServer will be integrated with the existing ObjectWeb open source middleware, including the JOnAS J2EE(tm) 1.4 application server. PresentationServer will also be evaluated in the framework of the "ESB initiative," a think tank incepted by ObjectWeb to better take into account the market expectations when developing open-source solutions for business integration. Orbeon's expertise in the XML world is expected to play an important role in this initiative.