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RE: Request: Compare JXTA versus UDDI/WSDL/SOAP

• From: Nicolas LEHUEN <nicolas.lehuen@u...>
• To: "'Roger L. Costello'" <costello@m...>,"'xml-dev@l...'" <xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 09:36:27 +0200

With such so generic terms, you can find a zillion competing technologies...
The concept of distributed services interoperating with each other is not
new, and it is not the exclusive territory of web services.

JXTA and web services do not compete on the short or medium run. Maybe on
the long run.

The keyword here however is peer-to-peer. JXTA defines a set of protocols
that can be used to discover and use resources in a non-centralised
environment. In a way, JXTA is much more close to JINI than it is to web
services. However, contrary to JINI, JXTA tries to promote a non-IP centric,
non-Java centric architecture. The protocols, relying on XML rather than on
Java RMI, can be implemented with any technology, instead of just Java. Of
course, the current implementation (very simple, relying on IP) uses Java.
JXTA protocols are very low level, defining pipes and sockets, users and
group. Applicative protocols are purposely not defined (though Sun
distributes a file sharing protocol), and are left to the community to
develop. JXTA is a Sun initiative to standardize P2P protocols that are
quite numerous currently due to the file sharing services success (Gnutella,
Napster, Audiogalaxy, etc.).

Web services on the contrary are a technology answering a very pragmatic
need : make different system architecture interoperate over the internet.
Though a lot of technologies were already available to do that, they were
not easily implemented, due to security restrictions (firewalls),
complexity, non recognition by the whole industry (e.g. Microsoft never
supported CORBA, providing their own kind of distributed object system
DCOM), etc.  Web services are an opportunity to answer this need, being
simple, firewall-friendly and accepted by the whole industry. Their
limitations for now (no transactional features, very few payload standards)
prevent them from eradicating more solid solutions, like CORBA or RMI, or
even being usable in B2B applications, but everybody is so eager of a
solution that there is no doubt those problems while disappear in the years
to come.

The technical fundations of web services are very well known : most often
HTTP and XML, though SMTP could be used. In any case, the web services
specification (SOAP, WSDL, UDDI) are much more high level than the JXTA
ones. 

For short, web services exchange XML messages on sockets and connections in
a traditionnal C/S environment whereas JXTA defines how to implement these
sockets and connections in a peer-to-peer environment.

Regards,
Nicolas

>-----Message d'origine-----
>De : Roger L. Costello [mailto:costello@m...]
>Envoye : vendredi 27 juillet 2001 15:38
>A : xml-dev@l...
>Objet : Request: Compare JXTA versus UDDI/WSDL/SOAP
>
>
>Hi Folks,
>
>I just discovered this open source project that SUN launched 
>called JXTA
>("short for juxtapose").  The intro page [1] says, 
>
>"JXTA is a set of open, generalized peer-to-peer protocols that allow
>any connected device on the network to communicate and collaborate ...
>Its goal is to explore a vision of distributed network computing using
>peer-to-peer topology, and to develop basic building blocks 
>and services
>that would enable innovative applications for peer groups."
>
>This sounds a lot like what UDDI/WSDL/SOAP are doing.  Has 
>anyone looked
>at JXTA?  If you have, can you give a high-level comparison of JXTA
>versus UDDI/WSDL/SOAP?  /Roger
>
>[1] http://www.jxta.org
>
>
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