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EJB - Enterprise-Ready or not?

Case study 75 minutes

Dickon Field

This case study examines the progress of two long-running pilots / reference-implementations designed to identify the strengths and limitations of the EJB model and prove the maturity or otherwise of various Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) application development environment technologies. It looks at the lessons that have been learnt, particularly in the architectural approach required to produce robust and scaleable EJB applications. It also examines the key risks associated with the technology and the key areas where technology improvements are required.

Dickon Field (dickon.field@ecsoft.co.uk)

ECsoft UK Ltd

Dickon Field has 12 years experience in IT, of which 5 years have been with enterprise application development and systems integration using object-oriented technologies This experience has spanned programming, design, architecture and team leading, project management and consultancy-led IS strategy and enterprise IS architecture studies. He has experience of a number of successful enterprise-class systems initiatives, mainly in the manufacturing, retail and financial sectors. Dickon has also been responsible for developing the OO techniques and methodologies used by one of the big five management consultancies.

Topics

Describes the projects, including their objectives and application domains.
Describes the progress of the EJB projects over the past eighteen months.
Describes the architectural pit-falls which have been encountered, and how these have been overcome.
Explores the cultural issues associated with the loss of low-level control from developer to container.
Assesses the current state of the technology and where we might expect it to go from here.

Benefits

Gain a practitioner's insight into the strengths and limitations of an important technology.

If considering the adoption of EJB - go into it with eyes open to its pitfalls as well as how to get the most out of it.

Help identify the kinds of problems which map well onto EJB and those for which EJB still needs to develop as a framework.

Session: Case study 75 minutes Level: basic
Audience: Object Technology Analysts / Architects / Developers Max

Material

PowerPoint hand-outs for case study presentation session

Delivery

It is a case study.

Format

PowerPoint projection capability in an environment which will enable audience participation in an open discussion session at the end (such as multiple flip-charts facing class-room or theatre-style seating arrangement).

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Session: Case study 75 minutes	Level: basic
Audience: Object Technology Analysts / Architects / Developers	Max