I haven't had much experience with WebORB, but I believe it was meant to be used with langs other then Java. I remember reading something about not planing to have a Java version as FDS already does that well.
One product you might want to check out as a Java alternative: http://www.graniteds.org/confluence/display/INTRO/Granite+Data+Services+Overview Not tons of info on it on this board, but I believe some people are using it pretty successfully.
