Java partners seek options
By Michael Moeller, PC Week Online and Rob O'Regan, PC Week Online
September 18, 1998 4:44 pm ET
Interoperability concerns are forcing some
of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s key Java
partners to increase their efforts to create
common guidelines and extensions for
server-side Java--with or without Sun's
help.
The guidelines, based on Sun's enterprise
APIs and specifications, are just the
beginning for IBM (IBM), Oracle Corp.
(ORCL), Novell Inc. (NOVL) and Intel Corp. (INTC), which are
exploring further-reaching joint licensing and development deals to
improve Java performance and compatibility.
The efforts are an acknowledgment that gaps in enterprise Java
specifications could stifle application and object compatibility, thus
delaying deployment of server-based Java applications.
"This is obviously necessary, especially since we are talking about Java
interfacing with lots of different systems and legacy environments," said
Robert Forbes, technology manager for First Tennessee Bank, in
Nashville. "Questions about interoperability between different systems is
an issue we are thinking about."
The Java vendors are not completely excluding Sun from their work.
Sun (SUNW) , with the help of IBM and others, is pulling together an
extended set of interoperability specifications, dubbed the Enterprise
Profile. The profile is expected to be part of the EJB (Enterprise
JavaBean) 2.0 specification, said Alan Baratz, president of Sun's Java
division, in Cupertino, Calif.
Sources said Sun's goal is to have EJB 2.0 completed by the end of this
year or early next.
Independently of that effort, however, IBM and Novell are discussing
ways to synchronize their server-side Java efforts, officials from both
companies said this week.
IBM is more than willing to license all or part of its Java server
technologies, including the San Francisco project or Component
Broker, to Novell, said Steve Mills, general manager of software
services for IBM, in Armonk, N.Y.
Novell, for its part, is eager to work with IBM.
"If anyone is going to drive Java on the server, it's IBM," said
Christopher Stone, senior vice president at Novell, of Provo, Utah.
Interoperable IBM and Novell EJBs could, for example, enable a more
seamless connection between Novell's NetWare and IBM's CICS
transaction processor, Mills said.
IBM, he added, is also working with Oracle to ensure JavaBeans
written to access their respective DB2 and Oracle8 databases will
interoperate. As a result, a database EJB could be created that could
call data from either database without recoding.
Novell, for its part, is working with Intel on a project, code-named
Netfire, to boost Java performance on NetWare servers.
One source close to Novell said the project involves a "clean room"
JVM (Java virtual machine), meaning it includes virtually no Sun
technology except for some class libraries. As a result, the new JVM,
which the companies announced in June and plan to ship next year,
could be at odds with Sun's Java compatibility requirements.
Novell CEO Eric Schmidt maintained that Netfire is a Sun-based JVM.
Novell's Stone, however, acknowledged a "frustration level" with Sun's
ability to deliver the HotSpot compiler and Java Development Kit 1.2.
Delays to those products, he said, are requiring Novell and Intel to do
more development on their own, or with third parties, than they
otherwise would have to do.
"We're not going to change byte code, but we want to enhance" the
JVM, Stone said.
Officials at Sun, in Palo Alto, Calif., say they support vendors' efforts to
enhance Sun's JVM-as long as they follow the guidelines of the Java
license.
"The licensing agreements allow people to extend, improve, enhance and
bug-fix and to bring all that technology back so that we can give it back
to everyone else," said Sun CEO Scott McNealy in an interview with
PC Week earlier this week. "In fact, the new releases of the virtual
machines have tons of code written by our partners.
"We're thrilled to death if Novell will make some enhancements and
additions to it and give it back so that we can give it to everyone else."
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