Tempo closely supports the BPEL4People workflow standard that is modeled on the business process execution language (BPEL) standard. The workflow standard has been jointly drafted by IBM Corp and SAP AG as a way to include human workflow tasks into the BPEL specification.
Tempo uses XForms to implement workflow components. But Intalio’s implementation of the BPEL4People model is interesting because it doesn’t make any extensions of modifications to the standard BPEL 2.0 specification.
For example, ad hoc workflow task management capabilities run on top of J2EE platforms and are exposed as Web services through WSDL interfaces, while advanced workflows like multi-channel notifications and alerts use standard BPEL processes.
The Tempo project represents the first open source implementation of [BPEL4People], claims Ishmael Halima, founder and CEO of Redwood City, California-based Intalio.
Developers will find the Tempo project on http://www.intalio.org.
For the past year Intalio has been busy renovating its core BPMS platform to accelerate its open source strategy. The company recently donated its business process modeler (BPMN Modeler) software to the Eclipse foundation and its BPEL engine to the Apache Software Foundation.
Effectively Intalio has now open sourced all three major components of its Intalio BPMS suite to support what it calls a zero code development model.
Intalio isn’t the only BPM vendor that’s embracing open source. Rival Tyco Inc has also made the latest version of its Eclipse-based Business Studio processing modeling tool available free of charge to the open source community.
Founded in July 1999, Intalio is a privately-held and venture-backed. Around 4,000 companies use the company’s open source BPMS suite.
