Integrating Fragmented Objects into a CORBA Environment

The design of distributed applications based on a fragmented object model has many benefits. Unlike traditional middleware with a RPC-based client-server interaction, the implementation of a fragmented object may be distributed over an arbitrary number of fragments, without restrictions on internal structure or interaction, while maintaining a transparent, standardized interface on the outside. In this paper we describe a middleware system that integrates the concept of fragmented objects into a CORBA environment. Our fragmented objects support implicit binding using the ORB’s marshalling mechanism by defining customized IOR profiles, while full interoperability with traditional CORBA applications is maintained. Furthermore, we show that a broad range of tasks in distributed systems can be solved elegantly using a fragmented object approach. Our own CORBA middleware AspectIX implements the described functionality.