Object-oriented programming enables using objects and classes for structuring code and data internally within applications.
The next step would be object-oriented operating systems which would enable defining object and classes on the level of individual computers.
Object Request Brokers promises to provide an object-oriented interface to distributed, heterogeneous systems - e.g. a network of mainframe, PC and Unix computers - by acting as a "broker" of requests or messages between objects in the network.
The aim is to support exchange of information between applications acquired from multiple vendors and installed on different systems.
The non-profit organisation Object Management Group has established a specification for ORBs, which is called CORBA - Common Object Request Broker Architecture.
A number of vendors have implemented ORBs, based on the CORBA specification, which are available on the market.
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