JCA 1.5, the latest version of the J2EE Connector Architecture, includes many important enhancements and some major additions. In this article, the first of a three-part series covering these changes, I'll introduce some optimizations that should make applications using outbound resource adapters run faster, particularly those using transactions. Then I'll take a look at extensions to the life-cycle management contract that should prevent applications from getting broken connections and enable resource adapters to take on a whole new life of their own. This will set the stage for Part 2, which will cover the new work-management and transaction-inflow contracts, and Part 3, which will examine the long-awaited message-inflow contract, better known as message-driven bean (MDB) support.