WSO2 Tailors Open-Source Middleware Platform for Cloud-Based Applications, Deployment Models

Updated: June 02, 2010

Through its integration layer, WSO2 Stratos installs onto any existing cloud infrastructure -- Eucalyptus, Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2), and VMware ESX, to name a few -- meaning enterprises can let the market work for them, and resist being lockeded into a specific infrastructure provider or platform.

"At a time when IT developers can create a new application in one month, taking months to provision and deploy servers and systems no longer makes strategic or economic sense," said Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, WSO2 founder and CEO. "WSO2 Stratos provides a complete middleware platform for delivering robust applications on private clouds, as well as migrating between and integrating with public clouds and on-premise systems—and there's never cloud lock-in."

Once Stratos is installed, users get a Web-based management portal where they can configure, manage and govern independent, but consistent, servers for each department, or for each stage of a system's lifecycle. Each server is completely virtual, scaling up automatically to handle the required load, and metered and billed according to use.

At the heart of the WSO2 Stratos PaaS is a Cloud Manager, which manages all other services and offers a portal where users can log in and register their domain (tenant), manage their account, and configure the middleware services that are available for their users. The Cloud Manager offers point-and-click simplicity for configuring and provisioning middleware services, so developers can get started immediately and focus on the business logic.

WSO2 Carbon

Stratos is built on top of and extends WSO2 Carbon, the company's componentized middleware platform. WSO2 last month announced Carbon 3.0, which lets developers point-and-click to tailor middleware functionality into a customized solution.

The new WS-Discovery support automates the configuration of a project spanning multiple Web service endpoints. WSO2 Carbon 3.0 also features enhanced integration of the WSO2 Governance Registry across the platform, facilitating governance and monitoring across large clustered deployments and cloud implementations.

At a time when IT developers can create a new application in one month, taking months to provision and deploy servers and systems no longer makes strategic or economic sense.

The Carbon 3.0 Component Manager features a checkbox user interface (UI) where IT professionals start with a lean core and can click to add the functionality they want to their WSO2 middleware products—choosing from among more than 150 features.

WS-Discovery support allows Carbon 3.0 to automatically discover nearby service endpoints, freeing IT professionals from much of the rewiring work typically required when deploying a new set of services or moving existing ones. This facilitates the ability to move deployments between different servers, private clouds, or public clouds.

Enhanced Governance Registry integration across the entire Carbon 3.0 middleware platform increases the ability to govern and monitor large-scale deployments, including clustered servers and cloud implementations.

Availability and support

WSO2 Stratos is available today as an early adopter release for private clouds, as a demonstration version on public clouds, and as an early release of the downloadable open source software.

WSO2 also today launched the WSO2 Cloud Partnership Initiative around WSO2 Stratos. WSO2 is partnering with systems integrators (SIs) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers to streamline the development and deployment of applications and services for enterprise clouds.