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However, this time around its a little bit different since a few major vendors are not biting this 'middleware' bullet -- namely BEA and IBM. Curiously, at the center of this debate is not only JBI, but the actual need for an ESB as the key to enabling a 'next generation' SOA ("Service Orientated Architecture").A few startups in the SOA landscape are heavily marketing the term ESB as a needed infrastructure for SOA, on the other hand, vendors like Microsoft and IBM do not even market such a product, but promote SOA more as an approach than a product.

But getting back to JBI, if you look at the spec it clearly states the following : "Java Business Integration JSR (JBI) extends J2EE with business integration SPIs. These SPIs enable the creation of a Java business integration environment for specifications such as WSCI, BPEL4WS and the W3C Choreography Working Group", so it's clearly an extension onto J2EE, and one that seems like an evolutionary step to the platform at that.

But the need and use of JBI is causing controversy, an interesting piece which gathers various points of views from key industry people in SOA can be found here: JBI: Is it, or isn't it, right for SOA? .

Although the opinions seems split on whether JBI will be a success or failure. I guess it all depends on what side of the fence you are currently on or have been in SOA.

If we are talking about a heavily invested company in J2EE, then by all means JBI looks like a winner, since it will provide the traction to create a reputable body to dictate the course of an emerging platform -- much in the same way it provided J2EE vendors. On the other hand, if the company is an anti-ESB proponent then right of the bat JBI is discarded -- since this is its whole purpose.

Middle-ground for Java vendors may work for now -- such as BEA that has stated it will not participate in JBI -- but this may be an all or nothing bet, since it may turn out to -- or not then again -- be the 'de facto' platform for SOA in J2EE. As always, the open-source camp has not waited much, and is already working on a JBI implementation named : ServiceMix

Update : Published a fairly technical article on JBI , JBI and ServiceMix : Remaking the Java ESB , includes JBI's relation to existing J2EE containers and the benefits it brings to the J2EE stack, around the open source JBI implementation named Service Mix.

Update 2 : A great write up on using JBI- Service Mix, with a point by point comparison on the actual spec lingo with more elaborate interpretations Fun Facts to Known And Tell: Java Business Integration .

Update 3: Another great article on intergating JBI with Java EE Sun Java EE Engine: Bridging Java EE Web Services and JBI Components .