Digital Experience Platform: Some Digital Experience Platforms Use the OSGi Framework

A digital experience platform (DXP) is an integrated set of technologies designed to enable the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences across multi-experience customer journeys.

• By Mensah Alkebu-Lan
• 08 October 2023

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Table of Contents

• What is a Digital Experience Platform?
• Common Features of DXPs
• OSGi Framework
• Examples of Technology based on OSGi Framework
• Apache Sling leverages the OSGi Framework
• Apache Tomcat Servlet Container and Web Server
• Apache Jackrabbit is a Content Repository
• References
  
  

What is a Digital Experience Platform?

Gartner defines a digital experience platform (DXP) as an integrated set of technologies designed to enable the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences across multi-experience customer journeys.

As early as 2016, a McKinsey study highlighted that, according to research, three fourths of customers expect service within five minutes of making contact online. These are some of the things DXPs aim to deliver on. For businesses starting out on their digital transformation journey, a cloud-native, SaaS CMS with embedded personalization and analytics provides a strong foundation for building out a DXP. Ultimately, you more than likely will need a range of digital experience solutions to empower your brand to meet your customer’s demands, from content to experience to commerce.

One way of looking at digital experience platforms is they are the next-next generation of content management systems (CMS). That is, CMSs came first, then web experience management systems, then DXPs.

A topic slightly outside the scope of this discussion but should be mentioned is the role artificial intelligence in websites. For example, AI can be implemented to provide personalized user experiences.

Common Features of DXPs

Two of the several features you will commonly see with DXPs are content management and digital asset management. A DXP helps serve as a central repository for an organization’s content and digital assets. This content can be presented across omnichannel touchpoints, whether that’s on the website, blog, mobile app, social media post or event IOT device. Similarly, digital assets such as images, videos, and audio files can be used in a variety of contexts.

Another common feature is personalization. Because the DXP is the central store of user data, DXPs have the capability to analyze behavioral data and first party data to create personalized experiences for each user.

There is also the matter of insights and analytics because It is not enough to just host content. After content creation and publication, there is also the matter of content creators knowing how and how often their content is being accessed.

Modern DXPs can provide real-time insights into user behavior. Digital experience analytics involves measuring, quantifying, and ultimately improving customer experiences on websites, apps, and any other digital-based experiences.

OSGi Framework

When it comes to their technology stack, DXPs come in several varieties. For example, they can be PHP-based, .NET-based, or Java-based, to name a few.

This discussion focuses on DXPs with a Java-based technology stack. A good place to start this discussion is with the Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi) framework.

Managed by an organization originally called the Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi), the OSGi specification provides a framework to deploy services in a shared environment, control how they behave and how they communicate, share resources and data. We call this Java-based service platform the OSGi Framework.

The platform is based on a micro-service architecture composed by standalone Java applications defined as extended JAR files. These JAR files include manifest files providing useful info such as the Bundle-Version element. Part of what it means to adhere to this framework is each software component is a bundle that can be remotely installed, started, stopped, uploaded, or installed.

Examples of Technology based on OSGi Framework

An example of where this framework is used is with the Eclipse IDE. In this instance this framework allows plug-ins to be installed into the IDE at runtime. Starting and stopping.

Another example is Apache Karaf. This is an application server that extends the OSGi platform by additional features like hot deployment, provisioning, and management.

IslandViz is a technology that allows one to visualize component-based architectures in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). It gets from name from the fact it visualizes OSGi based software systems using an island metaphor.

Apache Sling leverages the OSGi Framework

Apache Sling should also be mentioned as a technology that leverages the OSGi framework. It is a framework for RESTful web applications based on an extensible content tree. It provides interoperability between computer systems on the internet.

It uses Apache Jackrabbit (mentioned below) and Oak as a content repository to manage content. Sling is powered by OSGi framework for developing and deploying modular software programs and libraries.

Apache Tomcat Servlet Container and Web Server

An Apache Tomcat servlet container and web server is one of the most trusted solutions when content or data needs to be accessed via an HTTP request. A Java Servlet is a Java class that implements an application’s logic. Created with a web server interface, servlets run on the server side in a servlet container like Apache Tomcat. The Java EE specification comprises the standards for Java Servlets.

Apache Jackrabbit is a Content Repository

Apache Jackrabbit is a fully conforming implementation of the Content Repository for Java Technology API (JCR, specified in JSR-170 & 283). A content repository is a hierarchical content store with support for structured and unstructured content, full text search, versioning, transactions, observation, and more. This JSR was pushed forward mainly by Day Software, a company that, in addition to this project, also donated the OSGi service, Felix, and, the web framework, Sling, to the Apache Software Foundation as well.

Apache Jackrabbit has several components. This includes the jackrabbit-core component that includes the core of the fully compliant Apache Jackrabbit content repository implementation.

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