Software Engineering

by Kerem Kosaner

OSGi : Open Services Gateway initiative

Posted by keremkosaner on 5 August 2008

The OSGi Alliance is a worldwide consortium of technology innovators that advances a proven and mature process to assure interoperability of applications and services based on its component integration platform. The OSGi Service Platform is delivered in many Fortune Global 100 company products and services and in diverse markets including enterprise, mobile, home, telematics and consumer.

The alliance provides specifications, reference implementations, test suites and certification to foster a valuable cross-industry ecosystem. Member companies collaborate within an egalitarian, equitable and transparent environment and promote adoption of OSGi technology through business benefits, user experiences and forums.

The core component of the OSGi Specifications is the OSGi Framework. The Framework provides a standardized environment to applications (called bundles). The Framework is divided in a number of layers.

* L0: Execution Environment
* L1: Modules
* L2: Life Cycle Management
* L3: Service Registry A ubiquitous security system is deeply intertwined with all the layers.

The OSGi specifications are so widely applicable because the platform is a small layer that allows multiple Java™ based components to efficiently cooperate in a single Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It provides an extensive security model so that components can run in a shielded environment. However, with the proper permissions, components can reuse and cooperate, unlike other Java application environments. The OSGi Framework provides an extensive array of mechanisms to make this cooperation possible and secure.

The presence of OSGi technology-based middleware in many different industries creates a large software market for OSGi software components. The rigid definition of the OSGi Service Platform enables components that can run on a variety of devices, from very small to very big.

Adoption of the OSGi specifications can therefore reduce software development costs as well as provide new business opportunities.

Members of the OSGi Alliance

Aplix Corporation
Deutsche Telekom
Electricitié de France (EDF)
Ericsson Mobile Platforms AB
GigaSpaces Technologies
Harman/Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
Hitachi, Ltd.
IBM Corporation
Industrial Technology Research Institute
IONA Technologies
Jayway AB
Makewave
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Motorola, Inc.
NEC Corporation
Nokia Corporation
NTT
Oracle Corporation
ProSyst Software GmbH
Red Hat
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
SAP AG
Siemens AG
Software AG
SpringSource
Sprint
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Telcordia Technologies, Inc.
TIBCO Software Inc.
Telefónica I+D
REF, OSGi ORG