RTI middleware can provide performance-sensitive .NET applications with improvements in latency and throughput of an order of magnitude or more compared to most other enterprise messaging and Enterprise-Service Bus (ESB) solutions. In addition, for .NET applications with performance and operational requirements not satisfied by traditional messaging technology, RTI provides an off-the-shelf, standards-compliant alternative to the development of custom messaging middleware, reducing risk and the time required for developing, supporting and maintaining a proprietary solution.

Using RTI middleware and standard Gigabit Ethernet networks, distributed .NET applications can achieve an inter-application messaging latency of less than 100 microseconds, while most traditional .NET messaging solutions have latencies closer to a millisecond. Each application thread can send or receive up to 1,000,000 messages per second, versus between 1,000 and 10,000 messages per second with typical solutions. Because RTI utilizes peer-to-peer communication with no intermediate message brokers, servers or daemon processes that create choke points, aggregate system-wide throughput is limited only by the network switching fabric.

RTI allows .NET applications to transparently interoperate with those running outside the .NET Framework. .NET applications written in the C# and C++/CLI programming languages can seamlessly communicate with C, C++, Java and Ada applications running natively on Windows, Linux, Unix and embedded real-time operating systems (RTOSs). In the event that communicating applications use differing native data representations, such a 32-bit and 64-bit, RTI middleware automatically converts message contents to the appropriate format for each application.

As shown in the following examples, many applications can benefit from the combination of performance and interoperability provided by RTI:

Trading-desk software typically runs on Microsoft Windows workstations while market-data servers and latency-critical automated trading applications are usually hosted on Linux or UNIX systems. RTI provides the performance and interoperability necessary for firms to deploy a single messaging infrastructure for trading desks, market-data distribution and high-frequency trading.

Devices such as sensors, actuators and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are frequently monitored and controlled by Microsoft Windows applications. RTI provides interoperability between these RTOS-based devices and .NET while satisfying the demanding real-time performance requirements of application environments such as command-and-control systems, simulators, medical imaging equipment, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

"RTI allows developers of distributed applications to take advantage of the .NET Framework while still meeting stringent latency and throughput requirements," commented David Barnett, vice president of Marketing at RTI. "In addition, RTI makes it possible for .NET applications to be integrated seamlessly into heterogeneous systems and with the hundreds of existing applications already built on RTI middleware."

RTI's .NET Application Programming Interface (API) is based on the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems (DDS) standard. RTI is now offering the first commercial .NET interface to DDS. Because RTI supports the Real-Time Publish Subscribe (RTPS) wire protocol, the standard DDS wire interoperability protocol, .NET applications developed with RTI middleware can seamlessly communicate with applications that use other RTPS implementations, regardless of the language in which they were developed or the platform on which they run.

"RTI is continuing its tradition of DDS technology leadership," continued Barnett. "RTI was first to release a DDS-compliant product and to support the DDS wire interoperability protocol. RTI led with interoperability between DDS and SQL and between ODBC and JDBC, and also with integrated Complex Event Processing. RTI was first to offer an Ada interface to DDS—and is now first to offer a .NET interface to DDS."