WSO2 Launches Open-Source Cloud Platform

Stratos is built on the open-source middleware maker's Carbon SOA platform.

Open-source middleware maker WSO2 has launched an open source cloud platform that should be of interest to enterprise Java developers. Called Stratos, it's a fully hosted application platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for building and deploying apps and services "with instant provisioning of enterprise servers, including the portal, enterprise service bus (ESB) and application server."

Stratos is built on top of the company's Carbon product, a service-oriented architecture (SOA) framework built on the OSGi specification. OSGi defines an architecture for developing and deploying modular applications and libraries; it's a real, dynamic component model for Java applications. Equinox, the core runtime for the Eclipse framework, is an implementation of the OSGi.

"Essentially, we are making our entire Carbon platform available as a PaaS," said CEO Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana. "Every customer and every software vendor is saying, how do I make my software available as a service? We give you a complete platform that allows you to take any application or middleware product and make it available as a service."

In a recent blog posting, WSO2 CTO Paul Fremantle made the pitch for an open source PaaS solution. He argued that, so far, PaaS has addressed only the most basic requirements of enterprise core services: databases and a identity model.

"So my contention is this," he wrote, "you need a PaaS that supports the same core services that a modern Enterprise architecture has: ESB, BPMS, Authentication/Authorization, Portal, Data, Cache, etc. And you need a PaaS that works inside your organization as well as in a public Cloud. And if you really don't want any lock-in.... hadn't that PaaS better be Open Source as well?"

Stratos is being billed as "a complete SOA and developer platform" designed to enable IT teams to create, manage, and run enterprise-class apps and services "with all the inherent benefits of a true cloud-native environment." These include elasticity; multi-tenancy; billing, metering, and flexible monitoring; self-provisioning and management; dynamic, just-in-time discovery and wiring; and incremental deployment and testing.

"We're providing a convenient API and environment for developers who have write a service, so that they can focus on their part of the problem and delegate all the rest to the middleware," Weerawarana added.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based WSO2 was founded by members of the Apache Software Foundation's Web services community, and its products are based on Apache technologies. The WSO2 Web Services Application Server (WSAS) is based on Apache Axis2, and the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is based on Apache Synapse.

In a related announcement, WSO2 disclosed a new Cloud Partnership initiative aimed at system integrators (Sis) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers "to streamline the development and deployment of applications and services that are fully optimized for enterprise clouds."

WSO2 Stratos is available now as an early-adopter release for private clouds, as a demonstration version on public clouds, and as an early release of the downloadable open source software. The product is fully open source, so no licensing fees are required. It's available for evaluation here. Registration is required.

About the Author

John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS.  He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • glowing AI brain composed of geometric lines and nodes, encased within a protective shield of circuit patterns

    NIST's U.S. AI Safety Institute Announces Research Collaboration with Anthropic and OpenAI

    The U.S. AI Safety Institute, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has formalized agreements with AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI to collaborate on AI safety research, testing, and evaluation.

  • a glowing gaming controller, a digital tree structure, and an open book

    Report: Use of Game Engines Expands Beyond Gaming

    Game development technology is increasingly being utilized beyond its traditional gaming roots, according to the recently released annual "State of Game Development" report from development and DevOps solutions provider Perforce Software.

  • translucent lock composed of interconnected nodes and circuits at the center

    Cloud Security Alliance: Best Practices for Securing AI Systems

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organization whose mission statement is defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, has released a new report offering guidance on securing systems that leverage large language models (LLMs) to address business challenges.