For those who weren’t there, I’ve posted a  short video excerpt along with a slide deck that describes the tested scenarios. (These were validated prior to the demo. Because of time constraints, not all were shown live.)

Note that the applications using each DDS implementation were communicating peer-to-peer over a WiFi network. There were no intermediate brokers, mediation applications, ESBs, servers, smoke or mirrors. The magic is all courtesy of the DDS Real-Time Publish-Subscribe (RTPS) wire interoperability protocol.

This was the fourth time RTI participated in a public interoperability demo. It was also the first time that four vendors participated. Prior demos included two or three vendors.

The latest two vendors to join implemented the DDS-RTPS protocol purely from the specification. They had not participated in its development. This is an excellent testament to the quality and precision of the standard.

• New C++ and Java Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) were recommended for adoption
• A DDS security Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued

New C++ and Java APIs

The new C++ and Java APIs are more user friendly and enhance source code portability between DDS implementations. They provide an alternative to the original DDS APIs, which were indirectly specified by mapping a UML model into the OMG Interface Definition Language (IDL) and then into a specific programming language (using standard IDL-to-language mappings).

The new APIs were created specifically for C++ and Java, not generated from IDL. Thus, they take better advantage of language-specific features and conventions. This makes them more intuitive and concise. The new APIs also improve portability by eliminating the indirection introduced by the IDL to language mappings. The new language bindings are concrete: there is no room for interpretation.

Existing DDS users do not need to worry about backward compatibility. RTI will support both the new and classic APIs. And, of course, applications using both APIs are fully interoperable thanks to the DDS wire interoperability protocol (DDS-RTPS).

DDS Security RFP

The DDS security RFP kicks off the process of defining standard Information Assurance (IA) extensions to DDS. This includes encryption, authentication, access control, labeling and tagging. Initial submissions are due in June 2011.

RTI is contributing a response to the RFP based on experience with our existing security capabilities and a prototype implementation. If you have input, please let us know.

Securty has been a major focus for RTI. We recently completed two security-related research contacts with the U.S. Office of the Secreteary of Defense (OSD), have a on-going contract with the U.S. Air Force, and are just beginning a new contract with the U.S. Navy.

DDS Interoperability Demo

Also at the OMG meeting this week, four vendors participated in a DDS interoperability demonstration. I’ll post more information on this in the next few days. [And here it is]

The answers to these questions are becoming increasingly important as real-time systems scale up and are integrated into Systems of Systems. Without the right underlying architecture and technology, applications will fail to satisfy their performance objectives. For mission-critical systems, the consequences of this could be catastrophic. Integration costs could also explode if proprietary and stovepipe workarounds are required to compensate for limitations in the underlying integration infrastructure.

You can download the white paper here.

Check it out and let us know what you think. What does “Real-Time SOA” mean to you?

This broad-based research provides the first independent quantification of the reduction in integration time, cost and risk you can expect from RTI Data Distribution Service. Findings include:

• Up to 45% Lower Total Cost of Development: The average cost of application development was substantial for projects using internally developed “Roll-Your-Own” (RYO) middleware ($1.61M) and most commercial solutions ($1.34M); however, projects using RTI middleware enjoyed much lower costs ($0.89M).
• Up to 47% Lower Cost Overrun: The average cost overrun was similar for projects using RYO (11.3%) and most commercial middleware (10.1%). Projects using RTI finished closest to expected cost (6.0%).
• Lower Testing Costs: In projects where the cost of testing was less than 30 percent of the total development cost, RYO (72.5%) showed an advantage over commercial (65.5%) middleware. Projects using RTI’s commercial middleware, however, had testing costs less than 30 percent of the total development cost 84.6% of the time.
• Greater Probability of Meeting Design Requirements: Final design outcomes using commercial middleware in general, and RTI in particular, were much closer to pre-design expectations than RYO developments for performance, functionality, features and schedule.

Visit EMF’s web site to download the full report for free:  Choosing between Commercial and ‘Roll Your Own’ Embedded Communication Integration Middleware.

With the maturity and broad adoption of DDS, we are seeing a couple of trends.

• DDS is being used in larger and more geographically disperse systems
• Customers are moving to second-generation DDS based systems
• Users are integrating multiple systems that already deploy DDS as their underlying integration bus

To support these efforts, RTI recently introduced RTI Routing Service. RTI Routing Service provides a flexible solution for scaling DDS systems and for integrating disparate DDS applications. This includes:

• Applications that cannot directly communicate because they run on different networks (LAN and WAN), use different transport protocols (e.g., shared memory, IPv4 and IPv6), or are members of different security domains
• Applications that natively use different DDS data types, such as new and legacy applications, individual systems within a System of Systems, and applications that support different Communities of Interest (COI)

To learn how RTI Routing Service significantly reduces the costs of real-time system integration, upgrades and of implementing Cross-Domain Solutions (CDS), visit RTI’s web site or watch this video demonstration.