The making of Orbix and the iPortal suite

IONA released the first full implementation of the CORBA standard in August 1992, and our first product, Orbix, has become the most successful object request broker, capturing almost 70-percent of this market. It has spawned many follow-on products from IONA and from partner companies. This development followed nearly ten years of research in the area of distributed object systems within Trinity College Dublin, centered on language support for developers of distributed systems. This paper captures some of the lessons we have learned in the transition from academia to business. We have had to learn many software engineering skills. We have had to find the right mix between engineering, marketing and sales expertise. We have had to learn how to release new products while staying committed to current ones. Most recently, we have had to learn how to become an Internet-company in order to deliver the iPortal Suite. For IONAians, it has been a fascinating journey.