Implementing a component architecture on multiple distributed object frameworks

In this paper we describe an experimental architecture (INCA) for integration of distributed components. The architecture advocates coarse-grained multi-process components that are loosely connected to each other via remote events. The emphasis is on dynamic configuration of these connections, including use of an administrative tool, which is essential for deployment and management of components in a distributed system. Our experimentation with INCA has been useful from two perspectives: first, as a means of gaining insight into architecture in general and distributed component architectures in particular, and secondly, as a means of understanding the intricacies of mapping the conceptual model defined by an architecture into existing products for distributed computing. We describe two implementations of the architecture and an example application using Java RMI and a CORBA-based product