Challenge
A home-grown J2EE-based infrastructure has grown
in complexity; changes are increasingly difficult and expensive.
Solution
Switch to a declarative definition of business logic
using NetKernel to ensure a clean separation
from the underlying implementation technologies.
Incrementally migrate current features to NetKernel.
Next, develop new features and services on NetKernel.
Result
The new architecture induced a dramatic reduction in complexity and coupling
enabling a new fluidity to the process of enhancing and evolving Trimondo's
systems.
Trimondo Marktplatz eCommerce System
About Trimondo
Trimondo was founded in August 2001 as a joint venture between Lufthansa
AirPlus and Deutsche Post World Net to create an efficient marketplace
solution for eProcurement and eSourcing of products and services. The
Marktplatz[1] launched in November 2001 as an
internal project of Lufthansa AirPlus and is now part of the
IBX Integrated Business Exchange AB
Today Marktplatz hosts 400 suppliers,
30,000 users and 8.0 million products and services.
About Marktplatz
In 2004 Trimondo realized their existing J2EE based system using procedural
Java code was brittle and inflexible resulting in increasing difficulties when
new features and functionality were added.
To address this problem, two primary requirements were identified:
separate business logic from underlying technology interfaces (APIs) and
define business logic in declarative languages to enable rapid and reliable changes.
The Trimondo team carried out extensive evaluations of available products.
"1060 NetKernel was the obvious choice", says chief architect
Martin Kachel, "NetKernel
stood out from the crowd with it's unique approach, it provided exactly what we needed."
A four-person team initiated a pilot project to develop a new architecture and
migrate representative use-cases.
The team easily grasped the new technologies while navigating the gentle
learning curve.
They rapidly assembled the new system without any training or consultancy
- "The comprehensive documentation shipped with NetKernel,
along with complete source code provided us with everything we needed"
states Kachel matter of factly.
Figure 1: Marktplatz Architecture
"The pilot phase is typical of what we are trying to achieve", says Kachel.
"Replacing existing J2EE-based procedural functionality in the middle layer
of our architecture with NetKernel has enabled us to achieve a much looser coupling."
In the new architecture, business Logic is coded declaratively with DPML
(Declarative Processing Markup Language) and OS WorkFlow[2]
XML workflow definitions.
Incoming SOAP Doc/Lit messages are captured from
partners and the logic orchestrates schema validation, business level validation
and transformation before routing to various channels including database
(Oracle[3]), WebDAV repositories, workflow
and various customer communication channels including facsimile and email.
Trimondo's
existing secure and scalable deployment architecture leveraging
JBoss AS[4] and Oracle Database was preserved.
"We are very pleased with how Phase1 has progressed", says Kachel, "our thoughts
are now on planning and implementing subsequent phases in which we are increasingly
integrating more and more aspects of our core business."
Kachel discloses "I see NetKernel becoming the backbone of our
processing infrastructure."
References
[1] Trimondo Marktplatz
http://www.trimondo.com/marketingsite/home.jsp
[2] OS Workflow Flexible Open source workflow engine
http://www.opensymphony.com/osworkflow/
[3] Oracle Database
http://www.oracle.com/database/
[4] JBoss Application Server
http://www.jboss.org/products/jbossas
Portal
