Open Horizon Inc is offering a new Java-based event management system called Ambrosia designed specifically for packaged application vendors wishing to add Internet or intranet-based publish-and-subscribe features to new or existing programs. The South San Francisco, California-based company says Ambrosia applications will run anywhere a Java virtual machine is installed and connects application components through a high- level messaging service rather than going through a centralized data repository. The messaging works at a much higher level than technology such as IBM Corp’s MQSeries. It’s more like the New Paradigm Software Inc Copernicus software IBM ships to manage MQSeries messages (CI No 3,100). The Ambrosia framework is intended to hide all the underlying network plumbing and distributed application services. The company claims developers need only know what types of events their applications need to be aware of while Ambrosia ‘listens’ for those events on the net. Open Horizon has developed Ambrosia in conjunction with PeopleSoft Inc, one of its biggest customers for the Distributed Computing Environment-based Connection middleware it’s best known for. Connection enables organizations to add network security, directory and online transaction processing functions to distributed applications. Ambrosia includes client application programming interfaces that developers can integrate into third-party applications, a message broker for routing messages to subscribing applications, and an administration console to manage Ambrosia applications from a browser. Plug-in options include other management services such as load balancing, database connections, security, authentication and other services already offered as part of its Connection suite. Prices start at $6,000 for next quarter on Windows, NT and Sun Microsystems Inc’s Solaris. There are 18 beta test sites so far. Open Horizon, of Belmont, California, developed Ambrosia using the $7m of second round funding it won recently (CI No 3,002), and the company garnered an extra $1m from Japanese distributor Mitsui.
