The TPS Tuxedo Toolkit is a collection of functions in libraries, and pre-built Tuxedo Servers provided in source code form. Together, they provide the common infrastructure to build Tuxedo Applications upon. Normally, a business must write this infrastructure themselves before real application building can begin. Such an infrastructure takes a minimum of 1 man-year, but more often 3-5 man-years. Building and then testing the infrastructure is the primary reason Tuxedo applications take so long before they can be deployed.
There are many infrastructure and Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools on the market. However, these products are generally in binary form only. Consequently, customization is problematic. Because the TPS Tuxedo Toolkit is in source-code form, the development organization can customize the system in anyway desired. In addition, TPS supports the concept of Open Software and asks that all TPS Tuxedo Toolkit licensees submit their changes back to TPS for possible inclusion into future releases (i.e. the Linux model)
TPS is one of the oldest Tuxedo consulting firms in existence, predating BEA Systems by 3 years. Through this experience and the dozens of applications TPS has been involved with, TPS discovered there are common elements to all successful applications, while unsuccessful applications were usually lacking production quality elements. The TPS Tuxedo Toolkit provides all of these common elements in a generalized form that can be used on any application.
Tuxedo itself provides many of the capabilities listed above. However, Tuxedo stops short of the Application Infrastructure that Business programmers must build upon. The TPS Tuxedo Toolkit provides that extra layer between Tuxedo and the Business Applications. Consequently, the business programmer is shielded from many of the details of Tuxedo programming (i.e. XA support). This means an IT organization needs less Tuxedo expertise and can concentrate on delivering applications in a shorter timeframe.
Absolutely. And most long time Tuxedo customers have built their own infrastructures. One client of TPS built an entire CORBA infrastructure over Tuxedo. However, creating, modifying, and maintaining an infrastructure can be expensive. An investment of 1 man-year is the minimum most companies must make to have a working infrastructure. For most companies the investment is at least 3-5 man-years, and often well beyond. The CORBA infrastructure mentioned above cost millions. An initial investment is just the beginning, maintenance and extensions means further investment.
Businesses don't write their own DBMS or Middleware since there is little so little Return On Investment (ROI). Writing infrastructures, DBMS or Middleware is not the business most companies are in. Businesses do like to have their own infrastructure because of the need for customization. Out of such necessity, most businesses do write their own infrastructure. With the TPS Tuxedo Toolkit, organizations can eliminate the infrastructure building expense, yet still have the customization needed.
For most new Tuxedo customers, 3 or more Tuxedo applications are typically started simultaneously. Most IT organizations have little experience with Tuxedo, consequently the Enterprise ends up with 3 or more infrastructures. One from each project. With today's pressures to rapidly deploy new applications, rarely is there time to build the infrastructure first, then release to all projects. Instead, inertia builds, and each application sticks with its infrastructure, and somewhere around the 5th project that is over budget and over time, the CIO asks why is everything taking so long. They thought this middleware stuff was supposed to cut delivery times. By using the TPS Tuxedo Toolkit at the very beginning, all projects get a robust infrastructure to build upon immediately. If changes are made to the infrastructure code, all projects immediately get the latest updates.
The TPS Tuxedo Toolkit is intended to provide all those things that go into a successful Tuxedo application, that are not application specific. By providing this in a single package, half the battle of creating a Tuxedo application is won. Programmers can then concentrate on creating the business logic.
While the TPS Tuxedo Toolkit has been heavily generalized, there will obviosly be situations that that it is inappropriate. By being in Source Code format, the programmer is free to cut and paste to achieve the desired functionality. In this way, if the Toolkit is ever in the way, it can be pused aside, or augmented in new ways. This is a radical departure from 4GL and Application Generators that bind the programmer to doing things a particular way. By being in Source Code form, the programmer gets the best of both worlds.