Active Endpoints announced the availability of Milestone 1 of ActiveBPEL Community Edition 5.0 Server. ActiveBPEL 5.0 represents the release of an open-source implementation of both BPEL4People and WS-Human Task. These specifications allow human interactions to be included in services-based applications. By incorporating human tasks in composite applications, WS-Human Task and BPEL4People expand project teams’ flexibility and efficiency in delivering standards-based solutions.

With BPEL4People and WS-Human Task, application developers no longer have to cede control of business logic to proprietary workflow engines. Instead, these specifications allow human interaction to become a core, natural and open part of creating, deploying, testing and maintaining standards-based applications. For project teams struggling with the complexity of integrating closed workflow systems into composite applications, BPEL4People is a breakthrough specification and makes WS-BPEL itself an even more compelling alternative to overweight, piece-parts approaches to creating composite applications.

Active Endpoints is an author of both the WS-Human Task and BPEL4People specifications. As a co-submitter of these specifications to OASIS, the company will play an active role in improving these through its participation in the OASIS WS-BPEL Extension for People Technical Committee. By releasing ActiveBPEL 5.0 Milestone 1 to the open source community, the company hopes to gain experience in the implementation of these specifications in order to permit Active Endpoints to more quickly promote the specifications as OASIS standards. Rapid finalization of these specifications will deliver major productivity to project teams interested in modernizing applications using standards-based technologies.