BEA Targets Event-Driven SOA

BEA seems to have an interesting definition of event-driven architecture: It's basically the same as SOA, but with a complex event processing application thrown into the mix. That might actually be a good definition, as CEP is all about acting quickly on information retrieved from multiple sources. The more complex the events, the more likely it is that something like SOA will be necessary to tie them together. BEA isn't alone in this, though, or in tying CEP to business process management. Other SOA vendors also have recognized that CEP is potentially a killer app for their technology, with TIBCO making the most aggressive moves. Andy Dornan Senior Technology Editor

BEA Systems today debuted a new event server that enables enterprises to use BEA's Java application servers to build an event-driven SOA (service-oriented architecture).

BEA's announcement emphasized its strategy of bringing emerging SOA and EDA (event-driven architecture) concepts into the familiar world of Java servers, middleware and tooling.

BEA's new WebLogic Event Server is designed to handle event-driven applications such as aggregating information from distributed sources in real time and discerning patterns or trends. The service provides XTP (extreme transaction processing) support, including high throughput, high predictability and real-time response. It supports POJO (Plain Old Java Object) programming and the Spring Framework, as well as an EPL (Event Processing Language) that extends SQL processing in key ways.