Sun hopes you're dreaming of
Jini
Hot technology allows home devices to work together
BY MIGUEL HELFT
Mercury News Staff Writer
The Jetsons. Lots of smart widgets but no computers in sight.
It's not a vision the high-tech industry has delivered on. Instead, we
have lots of expensive, complex computers and few truly smart
widgets.
Today Sun Microsystems Inc. hopes to take a step toward changing
that. The Palo Alto computer maker will unveil Jini, an eagerly
awaited technology intended to allow everything from a TV to a
dishwasher to plug into a network as simply as a telephone plugs into
the wall.
This technology would allow all sorts of devices to work together and
tap into each other's power. For instance, a parent could use video
camera in a playroom to keep an eye on the kids through a computer
screen at the office and select some of the images to beam into a
VCR or a printer at the grandparents' house. Jini could also be used
to monitor and operate home appliances through a network
connection and download new features into a cellular phone.
Jini represents Sun's latest weapon in its war with Microsoft Corp.
Jini is aimed at tapping into other devices on a network, bypassing
personal computers. It is also in competition with a similar network
technology recently unveiled by Microsoft.
''We have been dealing with the same computer architecture for a
long time,'' said Mike Clary, Jini's project director. ''Now we are
talking about devices and networks. Cameras, cell phones. Those are
more interesting than the PC that sits on the desktop.''
Of course, computers are not disappearing. Jini also strives to simplify
connections of printers, scanners and disk drives with computers.
And Sun hopes that the backbone for networks of Jini gizmos will be
powered by Sun's high-end server computers, driving demand for
Sun's mainstay products.
At today's unveiling, Sun will show how a Jini dishwasher is
monitored by the manufacturer, Bosch Siemens, through a network,
Clary said. If the dishwasher is using too much water or not cleaning
the dishes properly, the company could send the owner an e-mail
telling them to clear a filter or re-adjust a pipe.
Using Jini, Sun will also assemble a network of computers, disk
drives, printers and scanners from scratch, bypassing the complex
network configuration and administration typically needed to get those
machines working together, Clary said.
And, Sun will show how a Jini digital VCR can be upgraded by
downloading new features from a network, replacing the need to
purchase a new machine just to get a few extra features.
Analysts have been eager to find out more about Jini since Sun first
previewed the technology in July. They say today's product
demonstrations will be key in making the power of Jini understandable
to a wider audience.
''The whole idea of ubiquitous plug-and-play networking has a great
deal of merit,'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a
technology consulting firm based in Campbell.
But the key to Jini's success lies perhaps more with Sun's partners
than with the company itself. The more machines and appliances that
are equipped with Jini, the more useful the technology.
''Ultimately the ability of (Sun) to garner partners, take the technology
and deploy it will determine whether it can succeed or not,'' Bajarin
said.
Clary envisions a world in which consumers will head to the local
electronics store and buy a device embossed with Jini's logo -- a
lamp, the kind that ''genies'' come out of -- take it home and plug it
into their Jini network. He said Sun will show working prototypes
from 24 partners including office equipment makers Canon, Epson
and Hewlett-Packard, disk drive makers Seagate Technology and
Quantum Technology, and consumer electronic makers Sony and
Phillips, as well as Nokia, 3Com, Cisco Systems, Novell and others.
Clary said the first Jini office products will be available this year, with
consumer electronics following next year.
''If (Jini) is everywhere, it will be killer,'' said Kimball Brown, an
analyst with Dataquest, a San Jose-based market research firm.
But Bajarin said Sun is likely to be entangled in a ''tit-for-tat'' war
with Microsoft, which announced its Universal Plug and Play
technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier
this month. The technology is intended as a Jini competitor that would
let PCs connect easily with a multitude of devices.
Some analysts say Sun is ahead of Microsoft, but officials at the
Redmond, Wash., software giant downplayed Sun's advances.
''Sun is excellent at marketing,'' said Phil Holden, group product
manager in Microsoft's information appliance division. ''Product
delivery is what we are interested in.'' Microsoft unveiled its own list
of partners, which include several PC makers, as well as Intel and
3Com.
Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to use Jini in conjunction with its own
technology that lets printers and scanners exchange data, said Rob
Horton, a marketing manager. But HP has also said it endorsed
Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play.
''I think is we look at (Jini) as one of a number of different
technologies that will make devices easy to use,'' Horton said. ''We
can work in a Jini environment and a Universal Plug and Play
environment.''
In order to make the technology appealing, Sun will make Jini free for
companies who want to test it and develop products for in-house use.
Commercial products will be charged a license for the use of the Jini
trademark.
''We want to open up the technology for a lot of people to innovate
around it and allow companies to develop proprietary products for
(which they can charge) money,'' Clary said.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report
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