Short for Distributed Component Object Model, an extension of the Component Object Model (COM) that allows COM components to communicate across network boundaries. Traditional COM components can only perform interprocess communication across process boundaries on the same machine. DCOM uses the RPC mechanism to transparently send and receive information between COM components (i.e., clients and servers) on the same network. DCOM was first made available in 1995 with the initial release of Windows NT 4.
DCOM serves the same purpose as IBM's DSOMprotocol, which is the most popular implementation of CORBA. Unlike CORBA, which runs on many operating systems, DCOM is currently implemented only for Windows.
DBMS magazine article on DCOM This DBMS online article, from November 1996, describes the effects of Microsoft's DCOM in the distributed object marketplace.
Microsoft's COM site Encompasses information about COM-based technologies such as Distributed COM (DCOM), COM+, Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and ActiveX controls. It includes tutorials, resources, whitepapers, and presentations.
Microsoft's DCOM Page White papers, case studies, news, downloads, samples, specs and further resources.