Finally a good Open Source SIP Servlet implementation

And so the news are out during JavaOne, Sun and Ericsson are cooperating on creating an Open Source implementation of the SIP Servlet spec in JSR-116 and the upcoming JSR-289. See http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/press/releases/20070508-1125135.shtml.

Finally I say, since this is a big step forward for the SIP Servlet component model. What has been lacking so far is real competitors to WebLogic SIP Server. As a result many customers are hesitating on which way to go - should I choose SIP Servlets or should I go down the JAIN SLEE path. With this move and the upcoming products from both IBM and Oracle all major vendors are now gathered around the SIP Servlet standard.



Why is this good? I believe that you need to see a certain amount of vendors in one technology area before it is considered mature and will have an enduring life. JEE is one such example, Long gone are all the other 'standards' that companies were trying to get customers to buy into. Do you remember HP Bluestone? JAIN SLEE, which is an excellent technology and architecture, faces the same problem. No major player has any products implementing JAIN SLEE. There is only Mobicents OS and then OpenCloud and jNetX which are commercial. I've seen AlcaLu offering their OSP, but it has never got any major traction. While SIP Servlets were facing the same risk if death or even worse ignorance, it is now on its way becoming the number one component model for Next Generation Networks in the telco industry.



I personally don't see it as necessarily a better technology than competing component models (JAIN SLEE mostly) but its wider industry adoption and inclusion in major technology vendors offerings will bring it to become the technology of choice. Now when Sun, Ericsson, IBM and Oracle together with BEA is including SIP Servlet technology into their platforms means it becomes part of extremely advanced middleware platforms with all the features you would expect, like HA, clustering, very high performance, SOA integration, etc.



What we miss though right now is a credible IN to NGN migration story. Hopefully we as a SIP Servlet industry and BEA as a vendor will have an opportunity to get back on this topic.