<s>
An	O
XML	B-Device
appliance	I-Device
is	O
a	O
special-purpose	O
network	O
device	O
used	O
to	O
secure	O
,	O
manage	O
and	O
mediate	O
XML	B-Protocol
traffic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
are	O
most	O
popularly	O
implemented	O
in	O
service-oriented	O
architectures	O
(	O
SOA	O
)	O
to	O
control	O
XML-based	O
web	O
services	O
traffic	O
,	O
and	O
increasingly	O
in	O
cloud-oriented	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
to	O
help	O
enterprises	O
integrate	O
on	O
premises	O
applications	O
with	O
off-premises	O
cloud-hosted	B-Architecture
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
are	O
also	O
commonly	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
SOA	O
appliances	O
,	O
SOA	O
gateways	O
,	O
XML	B-Protocol
gateways	O
,	O
and	O
cloud	O
brokers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
have	O
also	O
been	O
deployed	O
for	O
more	O
specific	O
applications	O
like	O
Message-oriented	B-Application
middleware	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
originators	O
of	O
the	O
product	O
category	O
deployed	O
exclusively	O
as	O
hardware	O
,	O
today	O
most	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
are	O
also	O
available	O
as	O
software	O
gateways	O
and	O
virtual	O
appliances	O
for	O
environments	O
like	O
VMWare	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
were	O
created	O
by	O
DataPower	B-Device
and	O
Vordel	O
in	O
1999	O
,	O
Sarvega	O
in	O
2000	O
,	O
Forum	O
Systems	O
in	O
2001	O
,	O
Managed	O
Methods	O
in	O
2005	O
and	O
Layer	O
7	O
Technologies	O
in	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
vendors	O
like	O
DataPower	B-Device
focused	O
on	O
the	O
XML	B-Protocol
acceleration	O
problem	O
which	O
they	O
solved	O
through	O
specialized	O
hardware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
several	O
vendors	O
like	O
DataPower	B-Device
(	O
purchased	O
by	O
IBM	O
in	O
2005	O
)	O
and	O
Layer	O
7	O
Technologies	O
continue	O
to	O
offer	O
hardware	O
accelerated	O
options	O
for	O
high	O
performance	O
situations	O
,	O
advances	O
in	O
computing	O
speed	O
has	O
made	O
software	O
or	O
vmware	O
based	O
"	O
appliances	O
"	O
practical	O
in	O
many	O
common	O
customer	O
situations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
use	O
cases	O
for	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
included	O
banking	O
and	O
cross-agency	O
government	O
information	O
sharing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Today	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
are	O
widely	O
used	O
across	O
finance	O
,	O
telecommunications	O
,	O
government	O
,	O
energy	O
,	O
logistics	O
commensurate	O
with	O
the	O
growing	O
usage	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
as	O
a	O
cross-division	O
and	O
cross-company	O
data	O
exchange	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2005	O
,	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
(	O
or	O
SOA	O
appliances	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
came	O
to	O
be	O
known	O
)	O
became	O
increasingly	O
associated	O
with	O
service-oriented	O
architectures	O
and	O
more	O
specifically	O
the	O
problem	O
of	O
governing	O
SOA	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
term	O
XML	B-Device
appliance	I-Device
is	O
the	O
most	O
general	O
term	O
to	O
describe	O
these	O
devices	O
,	O
most	O
vendors	O
use	O
alternative	O
terminology	O
that	O
describe	O
more	O
specific	O
functionality	O
of	O
these	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
are	O
alternative	O
names	O
used	O
for	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
:	O
</s>
<s>
XML	B-Protocol
accelerators	O
—	O
are	O
devices	O
that	O
typically	O
use	O
custom	O
hardware	O
or	O
software	O
built	O
on	O
standards-based	O
hardware	O
to	O
accelerate	O
XPath	B-Language
processing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Integration	B-Device
appliance	I-Device
—	O
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
application	O
routers	O
)	O
are	O
devices	O
that	O
are	O
designed	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
integration	O
of	O
computer	O
systems	O
easier	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
XML	B-Protocol
firewalls	I-Protocol
are	O
classes	O
of	O
XML	B-Device
appliances	I-Device
focused	O
on	O
identity	O
and	O
message	O
security	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Message-oriented	B-Application
middleware	I-Application
appliances	O
-	O
are	O
hardware	O
devices	O
supporting	O
the	O
sending	O
and	O
receiving	O
of	O
messages	O
between	O
distributed	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
API	B-Application
proxy	O
are	O
commonly	O
used	O
to	O
manage	O
Web	O
API	B-Application
's	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cloud	O
brokers	O
or	O
gateways	O
are	O
commonly	O
used	O
to	O
integrate	O
enterprise	O
applications	O
with	O
cloud	B-Architecture
services	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
