XML-RPC -- great concept, execution needs help (Score 4)

I'm a software architect for a major bank, where I design and implement the primary app used by all bankers to open new accounts. It's a web-based app written almost entirely in Java and Perl. A pretty monstrous app, under heavy load and very high profile. We decided to use XML-RPC for interprocess communication between our JVMs and Perl CGI's. We found the Java-based XML-RPC server (at least the one we looked at) to be in need of serious help. Exception handling was poor, and there were some significant performance issues. The perl client had similar problems. However, after a couple of months of working with it, we were able to tune it enough to support our demands, and our app is demanding (20 to 100 heavy-weight hits per second, with at least 1 XML-RPC transaction per hit). XML-RPC has greatly simplified RPC between our JVM and Perl CGIs, and has made complex interactions a breeze to code. Once the exception-handling and performance issues were addressed, we realized that we had an unusually effective piece of RPC software on our hands. We no longer fear Java-to-Perl RPC. I highly recommend it. We hope to release our fixes out to the public sometime soon.