Java: Sunw/Hwp/Msft
The focus maybe on Msft but HP seems to be reaping the fruit from Java. Here is an IBD article.
While Sun Microsystems Inc. stumbles to deliver Java architecture for small electronic devices, Hewlett- Packard Co. is scoring coups in the potentially lucrative market.
Case in point: HP beat Sun to the Java punch by winning four top clients, including Integrated Systems Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. Integrated Systems is the top commercial maker of programs that run the tiny computers that power everything from room thermostats to car engine control systems. The firm has 28% of the market.
''HP has put a fingerprint down,'' said David St. Charles, chief executive of Integrated Systems. ''The big challenge now is, What the heck is Sun going to do?''
HP's other three Java recruits are Lynx Real-Time Systems Inc. in San Jose, Calif., Microware Systems Corp. in Des Moines, Iowa, and Canada-based QNX Software Systems Ltd. The four make up 47% of the market.
Also, one of Sun's most significant partners, Alameda, Calif.-based Wind River Systems Inc., is considering a defection to HP. Wind River has been working with Sun for more than two years. More important, it's No. 2 in market share behind Integrated Systems, with 22%.
''We're not about to throw (Sun's Java) out the window without some very serious study,'' said Ron Abelmann, Wind River's chief executive. ''But we're looking very, very seriously at HP. We think they bring a lot to the Java party.''
These developments represent a body blow to Sun, inventor of the Java programming language. Sun has tried to tie Java to these tiny computers - also known as embedded devices - for more than two years.
Sun long has hoped to support a full range of computers, large and small, with Java. But the technology for small devices has been slow in coming. Sun is in the process of testing its embedded Java support software and hopes to have it ready for partners by year's end.
Its support software, known as a Java Virtual Machine, is designed to run on the embedded ''operating systems'' made by Integrated Systems and the other firms. The programs are roughly the equivalent of operating systems found on today's personal computers.
While some firms make their own operating programs, Integrated Systems and the other HP recruits are contracted to produce them. The market for these commercial operating systems is expected to hit $1.2 billion by '01, analysts say, providing lucrative potential for Java software.
Embedded-system makers say they need Java because of problems shrinking the code of other programming languages. Java also offers them a way to more easily tie their devices to larger computers.
HP beat Sun to market with its own Java Virtual Machine two months ago, designed from Sun's freely published Java basics. HP will profit each time a company uses part of its Java software. Royalties range from a dime to a dollar, depending on the volume of shipments, says Jim Bell, general manager in charge of embedded Java for HP.
Sun and HP now are talking about possibly unifying their competing embedded Java technologies, says George Paolini, marketing director of Sun's Java software division. It's not yet known how closely HP's Java will integrate with the standards adopted by Sun and its long list of partners using the language in larger computers.
''If they go their own direction, you'll see a number of companies reacting, and it won't be favorable to HP,'' Paolini said. ''Everybody understands the value of having a platform that can run on all operating systems.''
Sweeter licensing deals for customers, however, are helping HP make inroads toward high volume in the Java embedded market, say the company's new customers.
''HP came into the market saying, 'We're going to do it just for embedded (devices),' '' said Inder Singh, Lynx's chief executive.
Lynx and the others are miffed because they don't need many parts of Sun's Java, yet they still are required to take them with the company's license, Singh says. Sun's current Java offerings consume up to twice the memory as that of HP's, so they fit into fewer embedded electronics.
Besides having to wait too long for Sun's technology, Wind River's Abelmann says he's annoyed with Sun's purchase of another embedded-operating-system maker, Chorus Systems Inc., in November. Sun is planning to use Chorus' technology to compete with Wind River and others, Abelmann says.
''It makes a difference for me to work with a direct competitor rather than a partner,'' Abelmann said. ''If Sun's going to cause us grief in the market, the outcome is logical.''
Sun can't afford to lose Wind River, says Matt Belkin, analyst with San Francisco-based Hambrecht & Quist. If HP wins Wind River's business, ''that would be huge,'' Belkin said.
Sun held high-level meetings with Wind River last week to persuade the company to stay with its version of Java, Sun's Paolini says.
''We're very sensitive to their concerns,'' Paolini said. ''We can certainly understand (Abelmann's) frustration.''
For now, HP appears to have won the first round, landing the ''creme de la creme'' of the embedded market, says Ron Rappaport, analyst with Redwood City, Calif.-based Zona Research Inc.
''You have to wonder how Sun is going to compete in the embedded-system space without the support of the operating-system vendors,'' Rappaport said.
But HP's not stopping there. The company is aggressively pitching plans to be a software provider for the embedded market. When HP came out with embedded Java, some market watchers thought HP's main motivation was to use it for the company's own hardware products.
''Our main motivation is as a commercial software supplier to the general marketplace,'' HP's Bell said. ''According to (HP Chief Executive) Lew Platt, by the year 2000, 10% of HP's overall revenue will be coming from software.''
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Copyright (c) 1998 Investors Business Daily, All rights reserved.
Investor's Business Daily - Computers & Technology (05/19/98)
Sun Is Dealt A Body Blow On Crucial Java Platform
By Michael Tarsala
Transmitted: 5/18/98 4:48 PM (p0abjh2g) |
