This looks interesting...
Vendors support Java spec to
link appliances via Internet
by Dana Gardner
From...
(IDG) -- The dream of a world in which many
devices -- from home heating systems to
factory robots -- can be connected via the
Internet came a step closer to reality this
week with the announcement that a group of
15 companies is creating a broad Java
gateway specification.
News of the specification comes as work on
the Java embedded devices front is consolidating under the designs of Sun
Microsystems, as well as the word that Sun has debuted a new gateway
server and plans to soon bring its Jini technology into the overall stew.
Together, the announcements could provide for the creation of applications
that gather information from and direct commands to just about any
appliance fitted with a meager level of intelligence. Steps are under way to
build the applications and servers, as well as the smart devices.
What has been missing, according to industry analysts, is the glue of an
effective wireless or wired network between them.
That is where the OSG 1.0 specification
comes in. It is the focus of the Open
Services Gateway Initiative, a task force set
up to define standards that link various
remote environments, from branch offices
and scattered workplaces to homes and
schools.
The effort is expected to use Java and the
standards creation process behind it to
forge a series of "vendor-neutral" LAN to
WAN technologies, the group announced.
The OSG 1.0 gateway will be created
under the auspices of the Sun-led Java
Community Process. A draft of the
specification is expected by mid-1999, the
companies announced.
Also, the Real-Time Expert Group was
announced to deliver a reference implementation for embedded Java by
April 2000. The 20-member group, led by Greg Bollella, IBM's top
engineer in real-time Java, is also being orchestrated under Sun's Java
Community Process.
That process, announced in December by Sun, was preceded by Sun's
standards work that came under fire from a group led by Microsoft and
Hewlett-Packard. Those companies joined with a dozen others and
threatened to divide the market for embedded Java technology.
That effort to wrest control of real-time Java from Sun apparently failed,
however, when the National Committee for Information Technology
Standardization earlier this year declined to oversee development of the
alternative real-time specification.
The OSG 1.0 specification, if it pans out, will provide a common foundation
for ISPs, network operators, and equipment makers to offer a standardized
software environment and gateway to servers, such as Sun's offering, placed
in far-flung environments.
"By combining wireline, wireless, and Internet technologies, network
operators and ISPs will bring consumers completely new services," said
Torbjorn Nilsson, executive vice president of marketing and sales at
Ericsson, in a statement.
The alliance hopes the new standards will grease the skids for delivery,
installation, deinstallation, and management of applications that handle
security, energy management, emergency health care, and Internet
commerce services, among others. The result should be the opening of vast
new markets for ISPs, systems vendors, and software developers.
The vendors behind the OSG 1.0 drive are Alcatel, Cable & Wireless,
Electricite de France, Enron Communications, Ericsson, IBM, Lucent
Technologies, Motorola, Network Computer Inc., Nortel Networks,
Oracle, Philips Electronics, Sun, Sybase, and Toshiba.
The real-time Java specification, due by year's end, is being cobbled
together by Aonix, Apogee Software, Carnegie Mellon University,
Cyberonix, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, Microware
Systems, Mitsubishi Electric America, Mitre, Motorola, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, Nortel Networks, NSI Com, QSSL,
Rockwell Collins, Schneider Automation, Sun, Thomson-CSF, and Wind
River Systems.
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