Shridhar Iyengar, UNISYS
Distributed Object Repositories : Enterprise software integration using Metadata and Distributed Objects

The world of meta data and repositories which used to be the primary domain of data administration and development tool environments is now being reshaped and in fact occupies a key role in distributed development and run time environments. This session discusses the need for active meta data management and a distributed repository architecture that spans DCOM/CORBA/EJB to address the needs of enterprise wide meta data management. Meta data and objects are at the core of new standards (UML, MOF and XMI) being proposed to the OMG. Industry product development efforts at IBM, Unisys and Microsoft are finally coming to fruition and being deployed by customers. This session will cover :

• Repository concepts and need for dynamic and extensible meta data management
• Evolution of Repository Architectures from monolithic to extensible distributed object repositories
• An Architecture for a CORBA/DCOM based Repository for the enterprise
• OMG efforts in repositories, components and information models (UML, MOF, XMI, XML, CORBA Component Model...)
• Representative object repository products (IBM, Microsoft, Unisys...)
• Examples of object repository use in development tools, data warehousing and business object environments