MuleSoft Updates Open Source ESB

Published: September 21, 2010

by Alex Woodie

MuleSoft last week unveiled Mule 3, the latest release of its free and open source enterprise service bus (ESB) framework for integrating applications. The new release of the Mule ESB brings new connectors for hooking into cloud services, new JavaScript and AJAX capabilities for grabbing data directly from Web browser-based apps, a new workflow model, and new deployment models, among other changes.

Mule ESB is a freely downloadable, Java-based ESB framework designed to manage and orchestrate the flow of data across multiple applications, protocols, and transportation mechanisms. As an ESB, Mule is primarily designed for organizations that have somewhat complex application integration challenges, such as connecting three or more applications across two or more types of communication protocols. Organizations that need flexible message routing capabilities are also good candidates for an ESB such as Mule, which basically shields end-point applications from the complexity of data integration.

With Mule 3, MuleSoft has worked at making the ESB more pertinent to cloud and Web 2.0 applications. New connectors provide out-of-the-box support for popular cloud applications, such as Amazon Web services, Salesforce.com, and Facebook. The company says it also provides a way for users to create their own cloud connectors.

Meanwhile, new JavaScript capabilities will allow developers to access enterprise data directly from a browser-based application and trigger ESB actions from their JavaScript application, Mule says. This will make it much simpler to integrate Mule services with JavaScript frameworks like MooTools, ExtJS, JQuery, and Dojo, Mule says. This release also adds support for JSON data handling; support for consuming and reacting to ATOM and RSS news fees; and support for publishing JAX-RS and consuming REST services.

Other changes with Mule 3 include: a new component called Flow that's designed for creating message flows; the introduction of pattern-based configuration for performing common tasks; new deployment models; and a range of architectural changes. For the full list of Mule 3 features, see MuleSoft CEO Ross Mason's blog, From the Mule's Mouth.

Because Mule is written in Java, it therefore runs on all computers that can house a Java virtual machine (JVM), including the IBM i operating system. While the Mule team does not test on IBM's i OS, Mule customers have run the ESB on the OS, so you wouldn't be a lonely pioneer if you took the Mule path. (Just make sure you have the latest AIX-based JVM, called "IBM Technology for Java," and you will minimize problems.)

You will find on the Mule support website some community-generated documentation from IBM i types who have experimented with Mule ESB, especially as it relates to integrating Mule ESB with IBM i data queues, which appears to be one of the most popular uses of Mule ESB on the IBM i platform.

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