It can be used as an application server, embedded in a Java container or employed as a cloud computing platform.
ROC is a logical computing model that resides on top of but is completely isolated from the physical realm of code and objects.
In ROC, information and services are identified by logical addresses which are resolved to physical endpoints for the duration of a request and then released.
In NetKernel, the boundary between the logical and physical layers is intermediated by an operation-system caliber microkernel that can perform various transparent optimization.
The idea of using resources to model abstract information stems from the REST architectural style and the World Wide Web.
NetKernel can be considered a unification of the Web and Unix implemented as a software operating system running on a monolithic microkernel within a single computer.
Working in close partnership with co-founder Tony Butterfield, they discovered a method for writing software that could be executed across a logical model, separated from the physical realm of code and objects.
Rodgers and Butterfield begun their company as "1060 Research Limited" in Chipping Sodbury, a small market town on the edge of the Cotsolds region of England in 2002, and over a number of years developed the platform that became NetKernel.
Supported verbs include SOURCE, SINK, NEW, DELETE, EXISTS and META.
Each request is dispatched to a microkernel which resolves the URI address to a physical endpoint and assigns and schedules a thread for processing.
A mechanism is needed to issue the URI requests, capture the returned representations, and communicate with clients.