Active X: this is Microsoft s standard based on its Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) technology. It is being ported to most UNIX platforms.

CORBA: Common Object Request Broker Architecture is the Object Management Groups (OMG) attempt to introduce open standards into distributed computing. The OMG is a consortium of companies developing these standards but relying on individual companies to provide products.

DCE: Distributed Computing Environment is the Open Group's standard for distributed computing.

JAVA: Sun's attempt to produce truly portable programs has been taken up by a number of vendors. It uses a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to execute Java code. Any platform that support a JVM should (in theory) be able to execute any Java program. Java programs can be distributed (and executed) across a federation of computing platforms. It should be noted that practice and theory have not yet fully converged.

SOAP: is a W3C, XML-based, commercially supported protocol that is widely adopted. Unlike the currently mandated standards (CORBA & COM) it uses an open transport mechanisms (e.g. HTTP) which is mandated in the NISP.