<s>
The	O
Internet	B-Operating_System
Communications	I-Operating_System
Engine	I-Operating_System
,	O
or	O
Ice	O
,	O
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
RPC	B-Operating_System
framework	O
developed	O
by	O
ZeroC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
provides	O
SDKs	O
for	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
C#	B-Application
,	O
Java	B-Language
,	O
JavaScript	B-Language
,	O
MATLAB	B-Language
,	O
Objective-C	B-Language
,	O
PHP	B-Application
,	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
Ruby	B-Language
and	O
Swift	B-Application
,	O
and	O
can	O
run	O
on	O
various	O
operating	O
systems	O
,	O
including	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Windows	O
,	O
macOS	B-Application
,	O
iOS	B-Application
and	O
Android	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ice	O
implements	O
a	O
proprietary	O
application	B-Application
layer	I-Application
communications	O
protocol	O
,	O
called	O
the	O
Ice	O
protocol	O
,	O
that	O
can	O
run	O
over	O
TCP	B-Protocol
,	O
TLS	B-Protocol
,	O
UDP	B-Protocol
,	O
WebSocket	B-Protocol
and	O
Bluetooth	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
its	O
name	O
indicates	O
,	O
Ice	O
can	O
be	O
suitable	O
for	O
applications	O
that	O
communicate	O
over	O
the	O
Internet	O
,	O
and	O
includes	O
functionality	O
for	O
traversing	O
firewalls	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
released	O
in	O
February	O
2003	O
,	O
Ice	O
was	O
influenced	O
by	O
the	O
Common	B-Architecture
Object	I-Architecture
Request	I-Architecture
Broker	I-Architecture
Architecture	I-Architecture
(	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
)	O
in	O
its	O
design	O
,	O
and	O
indeed	O
was	O
created	O
by	O
several	O
influential	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
developers	O
,	O
including	O
Michi	O
Henning	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
ZeroC	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
smaller	O
and	O
less	O
complex	O
than	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
because	O
it	O
was	O
designed	O
by	O
a	O
small	O
group	O
of	O
experienced	O
developers	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
suffering	O
from	O
design	O
by	O
committee	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
source	O
code	O
repository	O
for	O
Ice	O
is	O
on	O
GitHub	B-Application
since	O
May	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ice	O
components	O
include	O
object-oriented	O
remote-object-invocation	O
,	O
replication	O
,	O
grid-computing	O
,	O
failover	B-General_Concept
,	O
load-balancing	O
,	O
firewall-traversals	O
and	O
publish-subscribe	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
gain	O
access	O
to	O
those	O
services	O
,	O
applications	O
are	O
linked	O
to	O
a	O
stub	O
library	O
or	O
assembly	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
generated	O
from	O
a	O
language-independent	O
IDL-like	O
syntax	O
called	O
slice	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
other	O
publish-subscribe	O
frameworks	O
such	O
as	O
Tibco	O
Software	O
's	O
Rendezvous	B-Application
or	O
SmartSockets	O
,	O
message	O
content	O
consist	O
of	O
objects	O
of	O
well	O
defined	O
classes	O
rather	O
than	O
of	O
structured	O
text	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
is	O
a	O
suite	O
of	O
frameworks	O
that	O
provide	O
object-oriented	O
load	B-Application
balancing	I-Application
,	O
failover	B-General_Concept
,	O
object-discovery	O
and	O
registry	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
is	O
a	O
proxy-based	O
service	O
to	O
enable	O
communication	O
through	O
firewalls	B-Application
,	O
thus	O
making	O
ICE	O
an	O
internet	O
communication	O
engine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apart	O
from	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
,	O
classes	O
and	O
interfaces	O
support	O
inheritance	O
and	O
abstract	O
classes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
is	O
the	O
directive	O
to	O
generate	O
a	O
certain	O
STL	B-Application
listxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx1	O
template	O
.	O
</s>
