Application Isolation - Is there an alternative to Subsystems?

With the release of the OSGi Enterprise Specification we now have defined what an application is in the context of OSGi rather than a traditional application server, think JEE. Running multiple applications in the same OSGi framework requires some form of isolation and visibility boundaries, which the subsystem specifications describes in detail.

In a real world example of implementing a enterprise integration solution based on OSGi we found that the complexity of the metadata demanded by the subsystems spec can be overwhelming and hindering to customers. In this talk we outline an alternative approach to providing application isolation that is based on the location of the artifacts. The implementation relies on the same OSGi framework hooks as does the subsystems specification. We will demonstrate the simplicity and advantages of the solution in comparison to the subsystems spec.

Any enterprise vendor considering adoption of OSGi is facing this very same problem and will be on the lookout for the best solution on behalf of their customers. We expect the audience to gain a better understanding of the current landscape and the alternatives in implementations.