OpenNode2 Version 1.1 Released

Just three months after the initial public release of OpenNode2 comes a new upgraded version. This new version includes a variety of minor improvements, and includes two new major features.

Exchange Network Discovery Service (ENDS) Integration

OpenNode2 is now capable of automatically registering an agency's Exchange Network presence and capabilities with the recently released national ENDS repository housed at EPA. This repository provides all consumers of Network data the ability to discover which agencies have operational Nodes, and what data they are able to exchange via those Nodes. With the release and adoption of OpenNode2, the roll-out of the Exchange Network has been gaining a renewed momentum and so the ENDS repository is set to become an essential tool to ensure that the community is aware of the Network's ongoing expansion. OpenNode2 will ensure that this registry of data exchange is authoritative and reliable.

Plugin Development Lite

Traditionally, the development of new innovative flows (AKA 'plugins' for OpenNode2) has required that a software developer with programming skills be engaged to write the plugin code. Once each plugin is developed, other OpenNode2 agencies can reuse that plugin and so avoid the reinvention of that wheel. During the formative years of the Network, the invention of new flows has been a fairly infrequent occurrence; but now that the Network's infrastructure has matured, new data exchange opportunities are being conceived every day. However, in some cases, the implementation of these new flows has been hampered due to a lack of the technical skills or the funding required to create the requisite plugin for such flows.

This challenge is not unique to the Network, and the industry has reacted by the development of advanced tools that simplify the development of data and XML mapping and manipulation. In response to the need and the availability of such tools, OpenNode2 now provides the capability to trigger 'wrapper' plugins that contain flow processing logic designed using the leading XML data mapping tool, Altova's Mapforce. This economical, powerful, and award winning tool provides a far simpler, graphical way to map existing data systems to the XML formats required by the Network.

Once a Mapforce user has designed a new Mapforce project and the wrapper plugin has been compiled, that plugin can be readily shared with other OpenNode2 users. Based on recent testing, this alternative to traditional custom developed plugins provides a viable alternative for flows that do not demand high frequency, high volume, multi-response processes; for example, any flow supporting a single type of data on a weekly or monthly schedule are good candidates for this type of development approach.