NEW YORK-To further enable data communications, Sun Microsystems Inc. has updated its Java2 platform for the corporate enterprise and is at work on a Year 2000 release of a version to facilitate ease of making transactions over wireless devices.
At its Java Business conference last week, Sun announced the final release of the Java2 Platform, Enterprise Edition.
“J2EE extends the Java 2 platform into the heart of the enterprise by including technologies necessary for businesses to run applications that are available anytime, anywhere,” said Patricia C. Sueltz, president of software products and platforms for the company.
“With the arrival of this edition, companies now have an open … platform-from the data center to the device-upon which to build their end-to-end [electronic] commerce applications.”
The final release of J2EE is designed to permit companies to combine existing enterprise information services with new business functions and deliver both to a wide range of users, including customers, business partners, employees and suppliers.
Sun said J2EE will reduce the cost and complexity involved in developing services so applications can be deployed rapidly and enhanced and scaled upward easily.
Binary code for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition that will support the Solaris Operating Environment and Windows NT will be available on Sun’s Web site on or about Dec. 17, the company said.
For wireless device users, Sun is working with Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. on the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition, said Robert Tennant, Sun’s group marketing manager for Java 2. Review of the specification for the Mobile Information Device profile for J2ME concluded in late September, and Tennant said he expects the platform’s release in April.
“This profile will enable applications development within mobile, wirelessly connected devices like cellular phones and two-way pagers … which have small displays, limited input … local storage, battery life and [central processing unit] power,” Sun Microsystems said.
“This profile, in conjunction with the J2ME `Connected, Limited Device Configuration,’ will allow applications on these devices targeted at satisfying the mass consumer market demand for wireless access to at-your-fingertips information, services and entertainment.”
Alcatel Alsthom, L.M. Ericsson, NTT DoCoMo, Psion and Siemens AG also participated in developing the profile, which they have endorsed.
NTT DoCoMo is transitioning its iMode mobile Internet access service to a Java platform so the carrier can “write code once for all handset makers, allowing for vendor competition,” Tennant said. However, DoCoMo will retain its use of a service based on Compact HyperText Markup Language rather than moving to Wireless Application Protocol, noting that HTML service is good for static functions.
