Funambol and Java Connector Architecture

[metek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Funambol and Java Connector Architecture

Dear Sir/Madam,

I was excited about Funambol at first because it is a lightweight 
synchronization server based on J2EE technology however I realized that even 
if it is based on J2EE it is not compliant with the most important J2EE 
standard that relates to Funambol, namely the Java Connector Architecture. I 
am surprised that even though another important Java standard like JCR, which 
is not part of J2EE, is implemented, the JCA standard, which has been a part 
of J2EE since before the existence of Funambol, has not been implemented, 
even though Funambol in fact uses JCA to connect its own database which means 
developers are well aware of JCA. The second version of JCA, JCA 1.5 has 
enabled the ability to build standard bi-directional connectors to data 
sources for years now. Many vendors have built and are building JCA 1.5 
connectors to their applications and Funambol is missing opportunities by not 
standardizing on JCA. Ideally, ISVs should be able to plug-in their JCA 
adapters into Funambol server and configure mappings from the JCA adapter's 
CCI interface to Funambol's interface. Then Funambol would be ready to be 
deployed as a PIM synchronization solution for hundreds of ERP, CRM, etc. 
systems without having to build proprietary connectors. If Funambol was 
JCA-compliant, I would surely push Funambol to our CRM customers since we 
already have a bi-directional JCR 1.5 adapter for our CRM solution. I don't 
want to build yet another proprietary connector. I've done that in the past 
but the standards were not mature then, but now that JCA 1.5 is mature and 
able I don't want to write proprietary connectors any more. I would 
appreciate to hear if there are any plans in the Funambol roadmap to support 
Java Connector Architecture.

Thank you,
Mete Kural
Touchtone Corporation