Object Request Broker (ORB)
The Object Request Broker (ORB) is middleware that uses the CORBA specification. The Object Request Broker or ORB takes care of all of the details involved in routing a request from client to object, and routing the response to its destination. The ORB is also the custodian of the Interface Repository (abbreviated variously IR or IFR), an OMG-standardized distributed database containing OMG IDL interface definitions.
On the client side, then, the ORB provides interface definitions from the IFR, and constructs invocations for use with the Dynamic Invocation Interface (DII). It also converts Object References between session and stringified format, and (for CORBA 2.4 and later ORBs) converts URL-format corbaloc and corbaname object references to session references.
On the server side, the ORB de-activates inactive objects, and re-activates them whenever a request comes in. CORBA supports a number of activation patterns, so that different object or component types can activate and de-activate in the way that uses resources best.
Also see CORBA and OMG Interface Definition Language (IDL).
Organization: Object Management Group
More information: ORB page on the OMG website
Context for Object Request Broker (ORB)
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Author
Douglas K Barry
Principal
Barry & Associates, Inc.
The Savvy Manager's Guide
Douglas K Barry is also the author of a book that explains Web Services, service-oriented architecture, and Cloud Computing in an easy-to-understand, non-technical manner.
Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing: The Savvy Manager's Guide (Second Edition)
by Douglas K Barry with David Dick
This is a guide for the savvy manager who wants to capitalize on the wave of change that is occurring with Web Services, service-oriented architecture, and—more recently—Cloud Computing. The changes wrought by these technologies will require both a basic grasp of the technologies and an effective way to deal with how these changes will affect the people who build and use the systems in our organizations. This book covers both issues. Managers at all levels of all organizations must be aware of both the changes that we are now seeing and ways to deal with issues created by those changes.