XML THE HARD WAY: HARDWARE TOOLS FOR XML Many developers are already familiar with the multitude of technologies related to XML software, which includes various XML parsers, query engines, and databases. There are, however, more than simply XML software technologies. Several companies have also produced hardware tools for XML that provide performance and reliability. We'll look at a few of these hardware solutions. THE DEVICES We'll focus on four devices that handle XML messages in hardware. The Intel NetStructure XML Director from Intel is the first one. Next, we'll look at two XML switches: one from Sarvega, the other from XBridge. The XA35 XML Router from Data Power will round out our set. INTEL NETSTRUCTURE XML DIRECTOR The goal of Intel's NetStructure 7280 XML Director is to add value to XML transactions. The hardware device is geared towards large corporations that want to build reliable infrastructures for online trading. The XML Director supports SSL connections, adding security to the reliability of a hardware solution. It also provides enterprise-ready features such as automatic fail-over for redundancy and high availability, as well as digital certificate authentication. The XML Director is packaged in a standard 2U rack mount chassis. It allows businesses to easily route XML messages to the appropriate applications. The XML Director acts as a front-end to Web servers and uses rules-based routing to direct XML messages to the appropriate server. It understands various XML dialects including BizTalk, CBL, and ebXML. Routing can be based on XML content and other parameters, such as the partner, the transaction priority, or the transaction amount. The XML Director comes with a hefty price tag. The retail price is over $40,000; however, the unit can be found for less than $30,000. It is a high performance, enterprise-ready appliance that can handle up to 1200 secure HTTP connections per second and double that amount without SSL. You can find out more information about the NetStructure 7280 XML Director at Intel's Web site. http://www.intel.com/network/idc/products/director_7280.htm SARVEGA Sarvega is a relatively new company, at least compared to Intel. Their switch is targeted at companies that need to enable XML robustness and scalability. By providing these features in a hardware appliance, Sarvega also expects to achieve a high factor of reliability. The Sarvega technology is based on two key features: translation and switching. The translation component allows the device to intelligently examine incoming XML messages and translate them to the appropriate format for the target application. The switching technology provides reliability and performance. Once the data comes into the device, it can be prioritized for translation and delivery; thus ensuring that the most important and critical messages are processed first and delivered more reliably. The Sarvega device is packaged in a 4U rack-mount chassis. A pair of Intel 1.2 GHz processors powers current models. You can find out more by visiting Sarvega's Web site. http://www.sarvega.com/index.php XSWITCH FROM XBRIDGE XBridge Software has developed an XML appliance called XSwitch. This hardware device provides routing of XML documents between business partners. Some of the key features of XSwitch include Schema and DTD independence--allowing the device to work with any XML grammar, not just industry standards. XSwitch comes in two flavors. The XSwitch Commerce is aimed at businesses and ASPs that want to add XML routing and need commercial database support (such as Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server). The XSwitch Enterprise model is for larger deployments involving multiple organizations and needing distributed object support (such as CORBA and DCOM). Unlike the Commerce version, the Enterprise model includes load balancing and clustering support, which provide the reliability and high availability that enterprises require. The XSwitch Commerce device is packaged in a 1U rack-mount chassis and supports a variety of upstream and downstream protocols such as SOAP, HTTP, and JDBC. The Commerce version also supports ODBC and DCOM as well as digital certificates and SSL for security. The XSwitch Enterprise comes in two versions: the 2500 and the 5000. Each version provides a high performance device for handling XML routing in complex multiorganization infrastructures. The 2500 supports load balancing while the 5000 supports both load balancing and clustering capability. Both models include support for Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), allowing larger enterprises to incorporate XSwitch into their enterprise's technology infrastructure. You can find out more about the XSwitch devices at the following Web site. http://www.xbridgesoft.com/products/xswitch/enterprise2500/ DATAPOWER'S XA35 XML ROUTER The XA35 XML Router from DataPower provides an XML hardware device aimed at increasing the performance of XML messages. The XA35 includes a just-in-time XSL compiler and boasts an order-of-magnitude increase in performance. The device provides routing to XML-based Web services and applications. It also includes support for load balancing across a set of applications and Web servers. The device includes enterprise-ready features, such as statistics about the XML messages routed and quality of service management. Like some of the other devices we've looked at, the XA35 can direct XML messages based on various rules. It can also translate messages using DataPower's patented XSLJIT technology. You can find out more about the XA35 by visiting DataPower's Web site. http://www.datapower.com/products.shtml Brian Schaffner is a senior consultant for Fujitsu Consulting. He provides architecture, design, and development support for Fujitsu's Telcom360 group. ---------------------------------------- WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK Tell us what you think about these four XML hardware devices. Share your comments in our discussion forum. http://clickthru.online.com/Click?q=90-wHZMQ_IIRUBgbPpVbLIqU8uOJhcR ----------------------------------------