Java Composite Application Platform Suite (CAPS or JCAPS), is a standards-based extensible software suite from Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

 involved in the Open ESB

Open ESB

Open ESB is a Java based open source enterprise service bus. Open ESB can be used as a platform for both Enterprise Application Integration and SOA. Open ESB is built on open standards....

 initiative. It is used to develop software infrastructure when a service-oriented architecture

Service-oriented architecture

In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...

 approach has been adopted. Java CAPS is composed of several packages which help to integrate existing investments and deliver new business services in a SOA environment.
As with other Java technologies, Java CAPS provides no specific vendor lock-in

Vendor lock-in

In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs...

 and supports a variety of operating systems.

The package

Since Java CAPS 5, the suite comprises adapters, libraries and an IDE

Integrated development environment

An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...

 critical for designing, writing, monitoring and testing business processes, although, in practice, the principal ones are:

Logicalhost: in charge of hosting the applications deployed in it. Until Java CAPS 5, the chosen server was the Sun Java System Application Server 9, and since the latest version, it became Glassfish to support JEE. Typically, the logicalhost runs on a dedicated machine (Solaris, OS Tiger, etc.) and when started, refers to a domain, which is an instance of the Sun Enterprise Service Bus.

Repository: a version control system which allows shared projects, version history and file-lock capabilities. As expected, users can log-in to the repository and access and modify files contained in it.

Enterprise designer: the IDE necessary to see the repository, create business processes, collaborations, connectivity maps and deployment profiles. Business processes here are meant to be made following BPEL. The standard of BPEL here is not tied specifically to web services as it is to execution of activities, its inputs/outputs and possible exceptions in the message flow.

Enterprise manager: the web portal to monitor the information flow through the BPEL diagrams, server logs, activity details, business processes' parameters and data, etc..

All components can be customized during installation although default options are recommended.
One of the major features exposed by Java CAPS is its adapters; these adapters are JCA

JCA

- Organizations :* Josephite Community Aid, Australian charity founded in 1986* Jewish Colonization Association, created in 1891 to facilitate the mass emigration of Jews from Russia and other Eastern European countries* Joint Church Aid...

 compliant and offer legacy system

Legacy system

A legacy system is an old method, technology, computer system, or application program that continues to be used, typically because it still functions for the users' needs, even though newer technology or more efficient methods of performing a task are now available...

integration.

The latest release from Sun before its acquisition by Oracle is JCAPS 6.

JCAPS 6

JCAPS 6 has some distinct features when compared to JCAPS 5.1.x

1. NetBeans 6.1 is used for Java CAPS IDE .Netbeans 6.1 has plugins to support the standard JCAPS 5.1.3 editors and it has a unified project view , editors for JCD , BPEL etc and a runtime environment of IDE.

2. Sun Java application server 9.1(glassfish V2) is used as JCAPS runtime environment and its admin console can be used for management and administration of JCAPS runtime components.

3. JCAPS 6 provides support for JBI. JBI has two types of component, binding component(communication protocols) and SE service Engine(business logic). Both JBI container and EE container are in sun app server. JCAPS 6 provides interoperability between Java EE and JBI components via JBI bridge.

4. JCAPS 6 support three types of messaging servers: JMS IQ manager(stcms) , Java message service grid or Java MQ4.1

5. JCAPS 6 also provides supports for sub Java collaboration.

JCAPS 6 includes installation enhancement (wizard based JCAPS installer) and management and monitoring improvements.