Howdy! It uses the
J2EE 1.3 Reference Implementation (RI), but you can use any 1.3-compliant J2EE server, if you have one.
The J2EE RI is the easiest one to set-up and configure, with the least amount of server-specific learning -- we don't want you to have to learn any server-specific stuff unless/until it is on the server that you will actually be working with. With the RI (free, comes with the J2EE download), you can focus more on the code itself.
Well, unless you get the now-famous RI CORBA.BAD_OPERATION error...

But we reckon we've got that bug solved.
But if you already have a J2EE server, or you know which one you'll be working with in the future, you can try it.
JBoss wouldn't be a bad move, because it is a *real* app server, whereas the RI is for practice and
testing only -- you can't use it for production.
cheers,
Kathy
p.s. we're still checking on the distribution in France and other countries... but there might be more info on the O'Reilly web site if you go to :
O'Reilly international page