OLE on Unix? You Bet!

Software AG will bring OLE into the world of Unix and big iron

Rainer Mauth

Will Microsoft's OLE help mainframes go virtual? Distributed object technology lets developers create multiplatform applications for a mainframe, server, or LAN. The two models that are competing to become the standard for so-called object-oriented middleware are the Object Management Group's CORBA and Microsoft's Network OLE and Component Object Model, or COM. (For more detailed information on these dueling technologies, see the January State of the Art.)

Originally, CORBA (for Common Object Request Broker Architecture) was geared toward Unix platforms, while OLE seemed restricted to Windows platforms. This situation will change now that the German firm Software AG has teame d up with Microsoft. The company announced late last year that it will make OLE Integration, the non-G UI subset of OLE, available to 18 different enterprise platforms, including major versions of Unix, as well as the mainframe and midrange platforms MVS and AS/400.

Software AG will adopt OLE/COM as its strategic object model, incorporating it into its middleware products. The company will also provide consulting, systems integration, and worldwide support to foster Microsoft's object model on these platforms. Initially, Software AG will release an OLE automation service that connects Windows-based applications to mainframe and midrange legacy servers. The complete porting will take place over the next three years, with the first Unix platforms available in the first half of 1997, company officials said.

Software AG has been a member of the OMG board for several years, participating in the development of CORBA standards. Is the company now deserting the CORBA camp? "We continue to pay close attention to CORBA," a Software AG spokeswoman said, "but our preferred infrastructure will be Network OLE."

Now that Software AG has teamed up with Microsoft, will cross-platform OLE become the standard for distributed objects? "OLE being available on mainframe and midrange platforms will definitely reinforce Microsoft's approach," says Philip Carnelley, one of the authors of "Distributed Objects: Creating the Virtual Mainframe," a new report from Ovum, a London-based consultancy firm.

The Ovum study says this new model of distributed computing -- the "virtual mainframe" -- is being enabled by distributed objects. The analysts suggest distributed object systems might combine the reliability of a mainframe with today's computing standards. As for the race between CORBA and OLE, it's not, as Carnelley points out, over yet.

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Componentware Sales to Soar

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The market for distributed object software will be driven by componentware rather than by middleware. In the year 2000, the worldwide market for tools and business applications supporting componentware will be worth $5 billion in revenue from end-user licenses, says Ovum, a consultancy based in London.