Open source company also is upgrading its jBPM workflow and orchestration software Positioning its middleware as an open source SOA platform, JBoss is adding the Drools Java business rules engine to its stable of products.The company also is upgrading its workflow and orchestration software, called jBPM (Java Business Process Management) and plans to offer an open source ESB (enterprise service bus) as a foundation for providing standardized integration.Drools and the new jBPM 3.0 will support deployment of SOA applications on JEMS (JBoss Enterprise Middleware System). Previously hosted by Codehaus, Drools — and its developer, Mark Proctor — is moving over to JBoss. Drools is slated to become a JBoss product called Java Business Rules in early 2006.“[Drools] enables [use of] reusable business rules across applications and services in an SOA,” said Shaun Connolly, vice president of product management at JBoss.Version 3.0 of jBPM adds support for BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) for orchestrating Web services in a process flow. “jBPM is a complement to the [JBoss] application server,” said analyst Yefim Natis, vice president at Gartner. “It is an essential element if they want to compete with the leaders in the software infrastructure space,” such as IBM or BEA Systems, Natis said.The JBoss ESB will feature the planned JBoss Messaging product as its messaging backbone. The ESB is due to ship next year. Software Development