As an Object Request Broker, DSOM must support a wide range of object implementations, including non-SOM implementations. For example, in a print spooler application, the implementation of a print queue object may be provided by the operating system, where the methods on the print queue are executable programs or system commands. As another example, consider an application that uses a large, existing class library that is not implemented using SOM. Finally, consider a class library where persistence is implemented by something other than the Persistence Framework.
In each of these examples, the application must participate in object identification, activation, initialization, and request dispatching. Each server supplies a server object (derived from SOMDServer) that works in conjunction with the SOMOA for this purpose.