In an effort to keep our users informed about our plans for Ice, we are announcing that the following new features will be available in Ice 1.6:
  • Language mapping for Python 2.3. The Ice extension for Python is layered on Ice for C++ for superior efficiency and stability, while providing native Python access to the Ice API.
  • Language mapping for Visual Basic .NET 2003. Integrated with our native C# implementation, Ice will be available to the large community of Visual Basic developers.
  • A lightweight Ice firewall ("Glacier2"), requiring fewer resources and only one external port.
  • A public serialization API for converting Slice types to and from a byte sequence.
Please also be aware of the changes in Slice semantics announced here.

Ice 1.6 will be available in Q4 2004.