Proxisoft Announces Netrifex – Innovative New Technology for Web Service Enablement

Print PDF

Netrifex Instantly Adds Web Services to Existing Java SE and Java EE Applications, Enabling Rapid and Low Cost Deployment of Web Services Across the Enterprise

White Plains – November 4, 2009 –

Proxisoft today announced the release of Netrifex 1.0.

Netrifex adds web services to existing Java applications using a point-and-click browser interface.  The product enables users to:

  • Create web service APIs in a fraction of the time and cost required by traditional programming methods.
  • Add SOAP and REST services to applications without modifying their code.
  • Start, stop, add, modify, and delete web services without shutting down or disrupting production applications.
  • Create and administer web services through a simple point-and-click user interface.  Common use-cases require no programming.
  • Generate web service interfaces automatically for applications built from common frameworks such as Apache Struts.
  • Implement stateful web services that are aware of user sessions and other types of application state.
  • Web-service-enable applications without source code (e.g., third party products, libraries).  Netrifex does not need to read or re-compile source code.


Netrifex adds web services to stand-alone Java programs and applications running in Java EE containers.  Netrifex works with Java 1.4.2 and higher.  Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems are supported.  Supported containers include Apache Tomcat and Oracle WebLogic Server.  WebSphere, JBoss and others will be added soon.

Download Netrifex with a 30-day trial license from http://proxisoft.com/trial.html.  Production licenses start at $20,000 per server.

For more information, see http://proxisoft.com.


Powerful New Technology

Proxisoft has developed an innovative new technology, called bytecode mirroring that powers Netrifex.  Using this technology, Netrifex mirrors portions of an application’s bytecode within a service layer that handles SOAP and REST requests.  Netrifex enhances the mirrored bytecode to web-service-enable it without modifying the existing application’s original bytecode.  When a web service request invokes mirrored bytecode in the service layer, Netrifex delegates the invocation to the corresponding business logic in the underlying application.  In this manner, Netrifex can publish the business logic of an application via web services without requiring any changes to the application.

Bytecode mirroring also eliminates a majority of the complex and time-consuming programming traditionally required to web-service-enable an application.  Using bytecode mirroring, Netrifex can automatically generate web service representations of user-selected interfaces that are already present in the existing application.  A Netrifex user simply browses the application classes and uses the point-and-click interface to select which methods get deployed as services.  Netrifex automatically adds the necessary JAX-WS [Java API for XML Web Services] and JAXB [Java Architecture for XML Binding] annotations to the mirrored bytecode – including all dependent classes.  Netrifex also handles the difficult cases not supported directly by Java  - e.g., collections, interfaces, abstract classes, static methods, missing no-arg constructors, and cyclic dependencies in serialization graphs.  Within a few minutes, a Netrifex user can deploy web services that would take days or weeks to implement using existing programming techniques.

Because it works directly with bytecode, Netrifex does not need access to an application’s source code.  Netrifex can web-service-enable applications where source code is not available, including third-party products and binary libraries.


Easy to Use
Netrifex provides a simple graphical user interface for browsing an application’s classes and method and selecting the ones to be exposed as web services.  It also includes a tracing feature that allows users to trace the execution flow of a running application and identify the APIs used to implement specific business logic.  Once these APIs are identified, they can be published as web services.


Fast Application Integration
Mark Hansen, founder of Proxisoft, says “Netrifex solves application integration challenges by making web services implementation projects incredibly fast and easy.”  Hansen believes that Netrifex is a revolutionary tool for exploiting the power of Web services to speed integration – both within the enterprise, and with external partners and customers. "With Netrifex, the web-service-enablement portion of a systems integration project can be completed in a fraction of the time required by traditional programming techniques,” he says. “A web services project, that would normally require a team of programmers several months to complete, can be implemented by a single person in a matter of days with Netrifex.”


Example
A simple example illustrates the power of Netrifex.  Consider a widget manufacturing company – WC Inc. - that has an order processing application written in Java.  The company lands a big customer, say Walmart, and Walmart tells WC Inc. that they need to integrate their order processing application with Walmart’s inventory management system using web services.

With Netrifex, WC Inc. can publish their existing order processing logic – currently embedded in an Apache Struts web application - as a web service API.  No coding is necessary.  WC Inc. simply installs Netrifex on the Tomcat server hosting their application, and deploys the existing business logic as a set of web services.

Now, Walmart’s inventory management system can immediately begin sending orders to the new web services.  The Walmart orders will be processed just like any other order entered into WC Inc.’s system. Netrifex handles all the web service communication to and from the Walmart inventory management system and translates it into Java method calls that are handled natively by the WC Inc. order processing system.


About Proxisoft
Proxisoft delivers web-service-enablement technology that lowers enterprise costs and speeds time-to-market.   Netrifex, the company’s flagship product, enables customers to create web services by leveraging existing applications rather than developing new code.

Company founder Mark Hansen holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT.  Hansen has previously founded two other successful technology firms: QDB Solutions – a database tools company; and Kinderhook Systems – an ecommerce integrator.  He is the author of “SOA Using Java Web Services”, the definitive reference guide to programming web services in Java.

Proxisoft’s offices are located in White Plains, New York.  For more information, see http://proxisoft.com or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .