Extreme Transaction Processing

In Computer Science, Extreme Transaction Processing (XTP) is an exceptionally demanding form of transaction processing. Transactions of most high-end ( more than 10,000 concurrent accesses or 500 transaction per second ) or ultra-high-end ( more than 100,000 concurrent accesses or 5,000 transaction per second ) requirements or more would require this form of processing.^[1]

Definition

Gartner defines XTP as an application style aimed at supporting the design, development, deployment, management and maintenance of distributed TP applications characterized by exceptionally demanding performance, scalability, availability, security, manageability and dependability requirements.^[2][3][4]

XTP applications focuses on delivering high and consistent performance in a linearly scalable and highly available system.^[5]

The XTP reference architecture has the following key elements:

• Commodity Hardware - the XTP Platform must be able to scale on commodity hardware
• Computing Fabric Elements - Services (Service-oriented Architecture reference architecture), Events, Data Bus and Caching
• Tera-architecture Support - High Availability and Workload Management Capabilities
• Distributed Transaction Processing Core - a native ability to contribute to transaction load processing across multiple, geographically distributed sites
• Event Processor
• Service Container - the ability to contain services logically, for example within application or service domain constructs. This is related to the Service-oriented Architecture paradigm.
• Flow Management - ability to implement workflow and business process orchestration - link to Service Oriented Architecture
• Batch Processing - ability to process batch workloads
• Deployment Model - support for a clean, consistent deployment model that achieves support and maintenance objectives
• Security - XTPP must include security best practice
• Management - management of XTPP platforms is crucial. Performance and SLA management aspects are included here.
• Programming Model - the XTP must support a defined programming model, e.g. SOA services
• Development Framework - the XTP must support development framework elements, e.g. Business Process Modelling and Orchestration.

Major Solutions

Major solutions promising XTP are :-

1. Extreme Scale
2. Oracle Coherence
3. Red Hat's JBoss Data Grid, based on the open source Infinispan project
4. GigaSpaces ^[6]
5. GemFire ^[7]
6. SafePeak - Automated Dynamic Caching of queries and procedures for SQL Server OLTP applications and databases
7. Globetom Enterprise Foundation (GEF) , based on the Adaptive Communication Environment (ACE)

References

1. Extreme Transaction Processing: High-Impact Emerging Technology - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors - Kevin Roebuck
2. IBM Extreme Transaction Processing (XTP) Patterns
3. SOA Magazine article on XTP
4. Extreme Transaction Processing Patterns: Write-behind Caching
5. DEVOXX 2011 - Going extreme on Health Care
6. Gigaspace official Website - XAP Product Overview
7. GemFire Product Overview