ANSAware
ANSAware
ANSAware is a robust suite of software which provides a usable realisation of the ANSA distributed and networked systems architecture. It includes facilities to build distributed systems which operate over heterogenous platforms and to integrate legacy systems into a network.
Developed by APM as part of the world-class ANSA programme of research and advanced development in distributed and networked information systems, the ANSA architecture defines an integrated set of structures, functions, design recipes, implementation guidelines and tools for building distributed and networked systems.
ANSAware provides simple, cost effective services and tools for building distributed and networked systems, paying particular attention to simplifying design and implementation tasks, and allowing applications to link together and interwork in heterogeneous, multi-domain systems of very wide geographical scale. Its performance is fast and its size modest - it will, for example, run a client in a 640K PC. ANSAware is intended to be tailored in application; it is not "shrink-wrap" software and, to assist customisation and optimisation, source is provided together with a comprehensive 500-page manual and built-in examples.
ANSAware's tools hide many of the problems of distribution and heterogeneity from programmers and users - making system maintenance and future enhancement simpler and easier. They also enable the encapsulation of legacy systems as services in the new, distributed environment, protecting existing investment whilst enabling exploitation of new technology.
First released in 1988, ANSAware is used by the development teams of many of the sponsors of the ANSA programme, by industrial clients and research units in some 20 countries. It has proved to be one of the easiest distributed computing environments to use.
Applications have included healthcare, CIM, publishing, retail, document imaging, the Olivetti Active Badge, cellular telephone networks, customer enquiry systems, steel scheduling financial dealing rooms and a range of advanced research applications. The largest working system is NASA's Astrophysics Data System, is based upon base a customised version of ANSAware. Probably the largest open distributed processing system in the world, it has been in successful use since 1991.
A new release is made approximately annually, after beta-testing by companies sponsoring the ANSA programme.
The present release, ANSAware 4.1.1, runs on the important industry platforms, including Unix, SunOS, HP-UX, VMS, MVS, MS-DOS, OSF/1, Windows 3.1 and Windows NT, and a facility for implementing working over or alongside the DCE.
ANSAware/RT release 1 is an alternative version for real-time and multi-media applications, implemented over lightweight kernels including Mach, real-time OSF/1, LynxOS and HP-RT. (Trademarks acknowledged)
ANSAware is available through industry-standard licences from APM. Source is normally included to facilitate customisation and application optimisation.
End-user source licences are normally annual and cover use on a network of up to 10 machines within one administrative zone.
Project source licences provide for the use of a given release for the duration of the project. Fees are reduced for EC and similar government-funded initiatives.
Academic source licences are available at a nominal charge for use by universities and similar teaching institutions for bona-fide research purposes.
Sponsors of the ANSA programme receive rights to exploitation as part of their package of benefits.
Fees for embedded and binary use by companies who are not sponsors are available by negotiation.
Support is provided through an Internet email facility, which circulates bug reports and fixes to all users, and also provides a facility for users to exchange ideas and experiences.
All licences include a three-month free trial licence for the Arjuna distributed transaction system developed for ANSAware by the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and marketed by APM.
The main components are outlined below, more detail is available in the comprehensive thirty-page ANSAware guide.
The INFRASTRUCTURE, in library format, is compiled into each program as necessary, providing facilities for making remote procedure calls between a variety of platforms, with the presentation issues managed automatically, and technology differences hidden from the application programmer. It includes a threads package, timers, event count and sequencer and access to event-driven systems such as X Windows. It allows ANSAware applications and traditional applications to run side by side on the same machine.
The TOOLSET for the simple description of requirements for remote communication and object management. Rather than accessing these facilities via a generic API, the programmer writes simple, declarative statements from which ANSAware generates code.
The INTERFACE DEFINITION LANGUAGE (IDL) and an associated tool (STUBC) are used to define the application services, they generate code which communicates with infrastructure components and handles technology-dependent presentation and marshalling issues.
The PREPC tools are used to provide interoperability. PREPC statements are embedded in applications when a remote call to other applications is required, handling creation and removal of application services, the creation and destruction of objects, and interaction with the Trader (described below) to advertise or access a service. With PREPC the programmer has to write only a small number of extra statements, in high-level notation, in order to gain access to the power and flexibility of distributed processing. A GENERIC STUB COMPILER is provided for development of applications in languages other than C.
The RUN-TIME ENVIRONMENT is a set of ready- built basic services. The TRADER service allows server objects to advertise the availability of their services and quality of service attributes, through it client objects seek and arrange to use advertised services. The FACTORY handles creation and destruction of application objects. The NODE MANAGER allows the remote or local management of objects running on one machine and form the basis of Object Management and Configuration Tools. The LOCATOR assists applications to find services which have moved or become dormant. Window- based management tools are provided for the Trader and Node Manager.
The principal new features are replicated object groups, capsule passivation, activation and migration, window-based node manager tools and Windows 3.1 and OSF1 ports.
Replicated object groups enable RPC-style communication with groups of objects and includes a group execution protocol which invokes groups as if they were ordinary services; group run-time support which keeps members in synchronisation; a group relocator; a configuration utility and implementation examples. The capsule facility includes passivation, activation and migration, transparent relocation and object storage functions and PREPC extensions to drive these storage functions.
The release also has run-time port selection for the trader, servers as managed objects, interworking of ANSAware with and over the DCE, developed using Hewlett Packard's release of the DCE and includes the University of Kent toolset which provides a graphical user interface to the trader.
ANSAware/RT extends release 4.1.1 to provide real-time and quality of service (QoS). It includes an EXTENDED TASKING SYSTEM with dynamic scheduling control points, real-time and non real-time scheduling, and full p-thread support. The EXTENDED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM provides for multiple execution protocols, a new timed-execution protocol which deals with deadlines, and selective multiplexing of communication channels. The EXTENDED APPLICATION INTERFACE provides additional PREPC and IDL statements for accessing tasking resources, QoS objects, explicit binding operations and invocations with QoS.
If you would like further details of ANSAware or our other products and services, including the ANSA programme, please contact us:
APM Ltd.
Poseidon House
Castle Park
Cambridge CB3 0RD
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 1223 515010
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 359779
E-mail: apm@ansa.co.uk
ANSAware is in use in:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Italy
Ireland
Japan
Korea
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
USA