News and New Product Briefs (August 20, 1999)
Eslit starts custom Java GUI design service
Eslit Creations announced that it has started a custom Java GUI design service to help users add dynamic, interactive features to their Web sites.
All Eslit-generated Java GUI designs are cross-platform. The company, which also sports a collection of more than 80 commercial Java applets and banners, specializes in design for electronic storefronts, WYSIWYG editing tools, automated customization, mix-and-match product parts, and search engines.
Eslit’s Java applets and banners are highly configurable, so users can specify such applet parameters as text, images, colors, and sounds. The applets are designed to employ such complex special effects as fade, dissolve, ripple, scroll, spin, wave, wipe, and zoom.
The Eslit collection also has a few 3D applets, including such shapes as tetrahedrons, octahedrons, icosahedrons, pyramids, cones, and spheres.
The applets are optimized for fast download time.
Java GUI examples: java/gui/
3D applets: java/applet/3D/
JavaLobby incorporates
JavaLobby founder Rick Ross announced that the 40,000-member organization has incorporated as a nonprofit corporation.
Ross said, “It is critical for JavaLobby to grow beyond its ad hoc status and confirm its role as the leading voice for the concerns of the Java developer community. Our grass-roots origins will always be part of our group identity, but a more organized JavaLobby will be better able to serve the membership.”
JavaLobby has members in more than 120 countries.
JavaLobby announces job program, benefits package
The newly incorporated JavaLobby nonprofit announced JavaLobby Jobs, a program that lets corporations advertise Java-related employment needs on the JavaLobby network.
Job openings are posted on the JavaLobby Web site and announced to members through e-mail. Companies who hire members pay JavaLobby a small commission after the hire is completed. JavaLobby intends for the program to pay its administrative costs so that JavaLobby membership can remain free.
Members who participate in the JL Jobs program will be considered Supporting Members, and will receive member benefits, but participation is not necessary to receive benefits. Benefits include:
- Alamo, Avis, Hertz, and National rental cars at a discount, as well as free enrollment in the preferred rental program for each company
- Twenty-five percent off the direct purchase price of Sybase’s PowerJ
- Free access to such professional journals as G2 News publications’ The Online Reporter and ClieNT Server News
JavaLobby is also looking into deals with other hardware and software vendors, and with more traditional benefits providers.
JavaLobby Jobs: jobs
Member benefits: benefits
JP Morgenthal says: “Down and give me ten!”
The JP Morgenthal e-business consulting services company, in collaboration with Bluestone Software and Object Design, announced that it will host an XML and Java Boot Camp training and education seminar on September 13 and 14, 1999 at Washington, DC’s Metro Center Marriott.
This two-day seminar’s goal is to train developers to use XML and Java to build applications for e-commerce and enterprise application integration (EAI).
According to Morgenthal, “The course will focus on real-world solutions and strategies. We’re packing more into two days than most seminars hold in a week.” The course will focus on Java Reflection, JDBC, JMS, JNDI, and RMI, as well as Bluestone’s Visual-XML toolkit (which builds dynamic XML applications) and Object Design’s eXcelon, a dynamically extensible XML e-business data server.
Inductees will get source code for all course examples and working demos of Visual-XML and eXcelon.
alphaWorks debuts CommonRules business rules library
IBM alphaWorks announced CommonRules, a Java library designed to extend the functionality of third-party rules-based and programming systems.
CommonRules offers a common translation language for various rules representations in different applications, including import/export formats such as XML, text, and Java objects. It translates the representations via a common format known as the Business Rules Interchange Format (BRIF).
It employs Diplomat, a utility that prioritizes conflict handling, so that rules interchange more naturally. Diplomat includes a simple specification UI for rules, as well as its own rule execution/inference engine.
CommonRules runs on all Java platforms.
Java Access Bridge for Windows
The Java Developers Connection announced the early-access version of the Java Access Bridge, which makes it possible for Microsoft Windows-based assistive technology to access and interact with the Java Accessibility API.
The Access Bridge is a class, in which part of the class code is supplied by a dynamically linked library (DLL) on the Windows system. The assistive technology running on the host platform communicates with the Windows-native DLL portion of the bridge class.
The native code of the bridge class communicates through the JVM with the Java Accessibility utility support and the Java Accessibility API on the individual user interface objects of the Java-based application.
The Java Accessibility API is implemented in Java Foundation Classes Swing user-interface components.
Java Shared Data Toolkit 2.0, EA 1 is here
Another piece of early access technology from the Java Developers Connection includes the Java Shared Data Toolkit 2.0, Early Access Release 1 (JSDT), a development library that lets developers easily add collaboration features to Java applications and applets.
You can use the JSDT software to build network-centric applications, such as shared whiteboards or chat environments. It can also be used for remote presentations, shared simulations, and data distribution for workgroups. The toolkit leverages other Java-based multimedia technologies by allowing them to be integrated into sessions generated and managed by JDST.
The toolkit features:
- Full compliance with the 100% pure Java certification standards
- Such sample programs as a chat environment, a shared whiteboard, a networked game, a stock quote viewer, and a sound server
- Multithreaded code
- A small footprint
It runs on Solaris or Windows NT.
Early access version of Java Secure Socket Extension 1.0
The Java Developers Connection announced the early access release of the Java Secure Socket Extension 1.0 (JSSE), a Java package that enables secure Internet communications.
JSSE implements Java versions of SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols. It includes functions for data encryption, server authentication, message integrity, and optional client authentication. JSSE offers a secure pathway for data between a client and a server running any application protocol — HTTP, telnet, NNTP, or FTP — over TCP/IP.
This early access release is a noncommercial reference implementation designed to demonstrate the JSSE APIs.
The JSSE is under export restrictions and can’t be released outside the US and Canada.
JSSE abstracts the underlying security algorithms and handshaking mechanisms, thus minimizing the risk of creating dangerous but subtle security vulnerabilities. It offers SSL 3 and TSL 1.0 support for Java 2 platforms. Other features include:
- Basic utilities for key and certificate management, including the securely encrypted storage of private keys and Certificate Authority (CA) support
SSLSocketandSSLServerSocketclasses, which can be instantiated to create secure channels- Cipher Suite negotiation, which performs SSL handshakes to initiate or verify secure communications
- HTTPS support
- RSA cryptography algorithms, including:
- RSA public key (authentication and key agreement)
- RC4 (bulk encryption)
- DES (bulk encryption)
- Triple DES (bulk encryption)
- Diffie-Hellman public key (key agreement)
- DSA public key (authentication)
- Multiple available key lengths, including:
- 2,048 bits (for RSA and DSA)
- 1,024 bits (for DH)
- 192 bits (with 112 effective for 3DES)
- 128 bits (for RC4)
- 64 bits (with 56 effective for DES)
- Server session management, to manage sessions’ caches
JSSE 1.0 requires Java 2 SDK 1.2 or Java 2 Runtime Environment 1.2 installed.
JDC offers intro to the JavaBeans API course
The Java Developers Connection and the MageLang Institute’s Jerry Smith and John Zukowski are offering a short course, complete with exercises, to introduce users to the JavaBeans API.
The course aims to teach users how to employ JavaBeans technology to create platform-independent, reusable Java components. It covers the beans architecture, event model, introspection, design and implementation, and use of the BDK BeanBox application.
The course requires that users have a general familiarity with Java.
As a bonus, Tim Rohaly of the MageLang Institute will hold live, online office hours on Thursday August 26 at 11 a.m. PST.
Grab Junior, the tiny, free Java Web server
Alexandre Naressi announced Junior, a simple, intuitive, small-footprint Java-based Web server that you can run on any computer that supports Java.
Junior is a 55KB multithreaded Web server that can be used to securely publish Web pages, images, videos, sounds, and compressed files over the Internet. It sports an intuitive interface, so there’s no manual or files to edit or recompile. It lets users monitor site traffic in realtime with a single-click integrated counter and visit monitor — no CGI needed.
Junior also provides password security to private parts of the site.
It is free for noncommercial use and can be licensed for commercial use.
NextBus debuts WebRun remote class loader
NextBus announced WebRun, a simple Web-based class loader designed to load classes for remotely distributed applications without a Web browser.
WebRun is a single class file, a Java application starter, that can remotely load JARs and class files for applets up to full Java applications from URLs. The code is written so as to require only a single class file other than Java to work on a system.
The WebRun class is a combination front end and Java class loader that enables running of Java applications loaded from a Web server, including Web pages that require basic authentication support.
The front end runs as the main Java class, using any Java 1.1 or later runtime environment (such as RT, JRE, or JDK). WebRun does not require AWT interactions. If users don’t ask for the authorization requester or for status window display, WebRun will run without AWT interactions.
ClassPacker 1.1a released
Cristiano Sadun announced the release of ClassPacker 1.1a, a program that lets users automatically craft a JAR file that contains the class files necessary to resolve, link, and instantiate a specific Java class, with no extra or missing files.
When ClassPacker is given a Java class, it tailors a JAR containing all and only the classes needed to resolve and execute it. In this release, ClassPacker-generated JAR files don’t contain any manifest files.
Modifications and enhancements to version 1.1a include:
-ois now used to optionally specify target file name- Added command line options
-soand-fnr - Added usage list of
Class.forName() - A bug fix that keeps javax classes from being stripped when
-ijxis specified
ClassPacker requires JDK 1.2 and the JRE. It hasn’t been tested with 1.0 and 1.1 classes, but is expected to work with them.
Find and install Net applets with JavaBee 0.99
ObjectBox announced JavaBee 0.99, a beta utility that lets users locate, install, and run applets from the Internet or intranets without using a Web browser.
JavaBee lets users applet-surf by typing in a few keywords. It then goes out over a network and pulls in applets, tests them, installs them, then lets users run them. It employs three levels of built-in security — low, medium, and high — to determine an individual applet’s access rights. High security is the default and is similar to normal browsers in that very few things are allowed. Medium security settings means printer access is allowed. The low security setting offers complete disk and printer access.
JavaBee caches images and Java bytecodes, and will check for newer versions of applets. It offers a manager utility for changing parameters and applet properties.
Features of this version:
- Support for Sun JRE 1.1.6 (and newer)
- Support for Microsoft JVM (installed with Internet Explorer 4 or 5)
- Configurable caching (cache bytecodes, images, and sound)
- Proxy firewall support
- Edit applet properties
- Built-in search facility (by entering keyword or http/file URL)
- A configurable menu
- Sound support
- Added support for browser connection
- Added dropdown list in search panel for search expressions
- Bug fixes for the security manager and a memory leak problem
- InstallShield has been added as the default install tool
JavaBee 0.99 is free.
alphaWorks releases Wapsody Java WAP protocol
IBM alphaWorks announced the Wapsody WAP simulation environment, a Java implementation of the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) specification and the WAP application environment.
Wapsody is a set of Java classes that implement most layers of the WAP specification (a browser-based system for use from mobile telephone handsets, PDAs, and other mobile computing devices). The WAP system defines a microbrowser that displays specially WML-formatted content pages that are transmitted to the mobile device using the WAP communications protocol over mobile data channels.
Wapsody simulates most aspects of WAP and is designed as a WAP application-building environment. It reproduces the behavior of the underlying network-bearer service and its protocol layers.
The Wapsody environment can stand alone, or it can execute demos that are currently hosted on the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory’s WAP infrastructure.
It runs on AIX and Windows 9x platforms.
BEA WebLogic server supports Java
BEA announced an upgrade to its WebLogic Enterprise mission-critical distributed object application server. Version 4.2 will let developers work in Java while taking advantage of the server’s high-end object-transaction monitor and integrated Tuxedo high-end transaction software. It promises to link the server’s ability as a complex transaction-processing system to Java’s ease of use.
Before, developers working with WebLogic Enterprise used C++ for programming; now they can add Java to C++ to build CORBA objects. The server still supports browser, Java, or COM clients, and offers some server-side COM support when implemented on Windows NT (as well as a COM/CORBA bridge).
According to a BEA spokesperson, at least 100 early-access version customers have tested WebLogic Enterprise 4.2.
The development kit for Web-Logic Enterprise 4.2 costs ,495, with a 75 per-user charge. BEA also offers Internet-user pricing on a per-CPU basis, starting at 0,000 per CPU.
Baratz leaves Sun
Sun Microsystems announced the rather unexpected resignation of Alan Baratz, president of the software products and platforms division (and former president of the Java software division). Baratz, who headed Sun’s Java efforts for several years, leaves Sun for New York-based Warburg, Pincus, and Company to become an executive on that venture capital firm’s information technology team.
According to Sun President/COO Ed Zander, Jon Kannegaard, vice president and general manager of the Java platform division, will take over Baratz’s position in an acting capacity. Sun has started searching for a permanent replacement.
According to Kannegaard, Baratz’s leaving doesn’t change the company’s Java strategy. When asked about assuming the position, he commented, “I’ve actually had a very active role in that all along, and it will increase. We can pick this up pretty well.” Kannegaard also noted that the Java part of the business is working quite well at this time.
Baratz echoed that sentiment. He said he is moving on “because I was presented with a great opportunity that was just too good to turn down … and it came at a time when everything was in great shape here at Sun, so I would not feel like I was leaving a problem.”
i-Flow Java-based process-automation software now on Solaris 7
Fujitsu Software announced that its Java-based, Web-centric process-automation development software, i-Flow, has been ported to Solaris 7. i-Flow was designed using Java Applets, JavaBeans, and JavaScript.
i-Flow lets developers embed workflow processes into Web-enabled applications, as well as provides front-to-back-office support for application integration. It comes with such components as:
- A Java-based, distributed-architecture workflow engine for handling sequential, parallel, and conditional tasks
- Integration Adapters to support third-party offerings, such as document-management systems, directory services, databases, and scripting languages
- Five browser-based clients to provide graphical process definition, various levels of participation, HTML-based form generation, and system administration; the clients can be customized in most JavaBean-compliant builder tools
- A software development kit sporting a set of APIs that provide server- and client-level functionality, source code, instructions, and examples for modifying or creating more integration adapters and browser-based clients
Along with the Solaris port, i-Flow has also added support for the Oracle8 and Microsoft SQL 7.0 databases.
The software runs on Solaris and Windows NT, offering up to 10,000 profiled users. Pricing starts at 0,000 for 100 profiled users.
Halcyon iASP makes more of active server pages
Halcyon Software announced iASP (instant ASP), software that provides Microsoft-compatible active server pages (ASP) abilities on a variety of Web servers, application servers, and operating systems. iASP replicates and extends the ASP environment and supports all standard built-in objects and plugin components.
iASP runs in response to a client connection or request, usually from a Web browser. When the request reaches the Web server, iADP redirects it to the iASP engine, which then processes the application pages and executes embedded scripts, computes the results, and returns the data (in a nice, neat HTML package) to the Web server.
iASP supports Java, Java Server Pages, JavaBean, Enterprise JavaBean (EJB), and CORBA components. It also supports VBScript, JScript, Perl, and JavaScript, at the same time giving developers access to NT/IIS-based development tools, components, and languages. The software works with the following Web servers:
- Apache (Unix, Windows)
- Microsoft Windows NT/IIS
- Sun Web Server
- Java Web Server
- Netscape FastTrack
- Netscape Enterprise Server
- IBM WebSphere
- Zeus
- Lotus Go Webserver
- Lotus Domino
- WebStar
iASP is also compatible with the following programming/scripting languages, component frameworks, and development tools:
- VBScript
- JavaScript
- JScript [AS1]
- Perl
- Visual Basic
- HTML
- XML
- Java servlets
- Java classes
- COM+, ActiveX, DLL (through R-JAX link sold separately)
- Microsoft Visual InterDev
- Allaire HomeSite
- Allaire Cold Fusion
- FrontPage
- Elemental DrumBeat
- NetObjects ScriptBuilder
- Sybase Powersite
It also supports application servers from Oracle, BEA, Sun, IBM, Sybase, and GemStone.
iASP offers better Windows NT compatibility to such operating systems as Solaris, Linux, IRIX, Digital Unix, Tru64, AIX, HP-UX, SCO Unix, NetWare, AS/400, S/390, OS/2, and MacOS.
There is a free, unsupported developer’s version; the full version costs 95.
Java ‘intranet in a box’ from Mindbridge’s IntraSmart
Mindbridge.com announced IntraSmart 1.1, software that offers users an instant Java-based intranet that consists of the business applications and the software components needed to deploy an enterprise-class intranet.
IntraSmart includes business applications for such functions as:
- Document sharing and management
- Group calendar and scheduler
- Group address book or company-wide Rolodex
- Bulletin boards and threaded discussion board
- Employee directories
- Company and departmental announcement avenue
There is a 30-day evaluation version of the product available. Check with the company for pricing.
Helios debuts TextPad 4.0 text editor
Helios Software announced TextPad 4.0, a Windows 9x/NT text editor that provides color-syntax highlighting for C/C++, HTML, and Java.
TextPad is a garden-variety text editor with a tabbed document selector and four-way splitter with per-view cursor and selection. It sports English, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Russian user interfaces and dictionaries. There is also a dictionary for English-language legal and medical terms.
Version 4.0 features include variable tab stops, file locking, unlimited file sizes and line lengths, and drag selection by word, line, and paragraph.
TextPad 4.0’s coding features are probably its greatest strength. Color syntax highlighting is available for Java, as well as for HTML and C/C++. There are also free add-ons available for Perl, AutoLisp, Pascal, and other programming languages. It lets users create different document classes, associate filenames with them, then define parameters (font, color, tab stops, and so on) for each document class.
The editor possesses unlimited undo/redo. Command combinations can be saved as keystroke macros and replayed from hot keys. It supports fixed and proportional fonts, and double-byte character sets for Asian languages. Users can view binary files in hexadecimal format.
TextPad 4.0 costs 7. There is a full-function trial version.
HotDiary jazzes schedule management with JazzIt! 3.0
HotDiary announced JazzIt! 3.0, a set of Java-based calendar-management tools designed for ISPs, Web-content hosts, and intranets.
JazzIt! lets users create, store, and publish member and group calendar Web sites, as well as host an event-feeding service. It will run either behind or in front of firewalls. It employs a plug-and-play object technology that lets ISPs receive automatic upgrades when new releases appear.
JazzIt! provides tools so ISPs can build ad-banner advertising.
JazzIt! 3.0 runs on Solaris, Windows NT 4.0, Linux, FreeBSD, HP-UX, and BSDI, as well as on any browser and almost any Web server. It comes with free 20-domain license packs.
The company’s site says, “Name your price on JazzIt!, and we will get back to you within 24 hours.”
Sun to build acceleration chip for Java
Sun announced that it will be building the MAJC (pronounced magic) Instruction Set Architecture graphics chip, a chip designed for the multimedia market to accelerate multimedia and communications applications written in Java and C/C++.
The MAJC architecture is designed for three markets — graphics, CPU, and embedded/digital signal processing — so Sun Microelectronics Marketing Vice President Marge Breya is betting that it will have an advantage over single-market graphics chips.
Speculation is that, in promoting this new architecture, Sun is trying to breathe enough speed into Java that it moves to the next level — game development. GameSpy Industries Development Director David Wright noted, “Having a processor specifically tuned for Java may make it a more preferable choice for game developers. If there was a way to run Java quickly on commodity hardware, I think more developers would adopt it.”
Look for an official introduction of the MAJC chips at the Hot Chips Conference at Stanford University in late August. Sun plans to ship samples sometime in the first half of 2000.
KL Group ships JClass 4.0 components
KL Group announced that it is shipping JClass 4.0, a collection of Java components designed for large-scale, mission-critical application development environments. This version of JClass has been optimized for Java 2, Swing, and the 2D API.
JClass 4.0 offers graphic capabilities, such as pattern fills, in JClass Chart and JClass PageLayout. With the help of Swing, it also offers support for pluggable look and feel.
JClass 4.0 sports two new components — JarMaster and PageLayout. JarMaster is a utility that lets developers rapidly build JARs and reduce class sizes prior to an application’s deployment.
The PageLayout component gives developers the ability to embed professional printing capabilities in a set of 100 percent Java libraries, with methods and procedures for adding paginated, formatted documents and reports to Java applications.
JClass 4.0 components are available as individual products or in suites. JClass Standard Suite includes Chart, Field, LiveTable, SwingSuite, and one year of support for ,499. JClass Enterprise Suite includes Chart, Field, LiveTable, SwingSuite, HiGrid, DataSource, JarMaster, and one year of support for ,099.
ObjectSpace releases Voyager ORB plus services 3.1
ObjectSpace announced Voyager ORB plus services 3.1, a Java-based system designed to make it easier to build dynamic, distributed object-oriented systems.
The Voyager ORB plus services includes:
- Voyager ORB Professional: Designed to help developers build commercial-strength distributed applications
- Voyager Transactions: A CORBA OTS-compliant distributed-transaction utility that ensures that all transactions are properly committed or rolled back
- Voyager Security: A facility that provides support for secure network communication over the industry-standard SSL protocol, allowing remote communication over an encrypted and authenticated channel
Voyager Transactions and Security require the use of Voyager ORB Professional.
Voyager ORB Professional 3.1 uses a GUI-driven management console and provides a lightweight client for remote-enabling applets within a 15KB footprint, support for transactions and security services, a DCOM bridge, and dynamic XML.
Dynamic XML simplifies the reading and writing of XML documents from within Java by allowing developers to access XML elements using regular Java interfaces instead of via low-level XML parser calls.
Voyager ORB Professional 3.1 also offers a persistent replicated directory and load balancing and connection management.
Voyager Transactions speeds distributed transactions by providing a flexible, standards-based, pure Java framework for deploying transactions across multiple platforms. It reduces manual coding requirements, and fixes it so applications can participate in global transactions with two-phase commit across multiple distribution nodes. It coordinates these transactions as if they were a single transaction on a single node.
Transactions can also let multiple participants interact with multiple databases and other resources to accomplish a distributed transaction.
Voyager Security provides support for secure network communication over the SSL protocol, allowing developers to plug corporate SSL implementations into Voyager. It includes adapters for the Phaos and RSA SSL implementations. It also gives applications the ability to tunnel through firewalls using the standard HTTP and SOCKS protocols.
Check with the company for pricing.
8×8 shipping its IntraSwitch CTI SDK
8×8 announced that its IntraSwitch CTI Software Developer’s Kit, designed to help developers prototype and test computer telephony integration applications (that’s what CTI stands for) without having access to a traditional PBX.
The SDK comes with a developer version of 8×8’s Java-based IntraSwitch IP-PBX server and a four-line Symphony VoIP gateway. The server supports the Java telephony applications programming interface 1.3 (JTAPI), and it runs on Solaris, Linux, and Windows NT. It offers IP-PBX features with full CTI support, including call control, physical terminal control, and call routing.
8×8 plans to support other APIs in future releases of IntraSwitch.
The Symphony VoIP Module connects four standard analog telephones to an IP network. It supports the industry standard G.711, G.723, G.726, and G.728 audio codecs, as well as full-duplex acoustic echo cancellation on each line. It also supports the H.323 and MGCP call control protocols.
The IntraSwitch CTI SDK costs 95. Besides the server and the gateway, it includes sample JTAPI application source code, user documentation, and application notes.
Rational and Ensemble integrate Rose and JDeveloper 2.0
Rational Software and Ensemble Systems announced that they are shipping RoseLink for JDeveloper, software that integrates the Rational Rose 98i visual modeling tool with Oracle’s JDeveloper 2.0 Java development tool.
RoseLink for JDeveloper gives software developers the ability to model Java applications in Rational Rose and generate JDeveloper code (which, in turn, leverages the Java server abilities in Oracle8i).
RoseLink for JDeveloper lets users develop Web-based applications for the Oracle8i Java platform by designing object-oriented software using Rose, then generating a markerless code framework for the application for JDeveloper, using RoseLink. Since the framework is coded, Java applications can be built rapidly in the JDeveloper environment.
RoseLink for JDeveloper supports an iterative development process and can reverse-engineer existing code. It features an intuitive user interface that builds a side-by-side representation of the Rose model and the JDeveloper application. It also highlights unsynchronized models or code items and gives developers the ability to choose when and which items to synchronize.
RoseLink for JDeveloper also features:
- Preservation of code formatting
- Code framework preview
- Editor dialogs to modify non-UML Java-specific properties
- Java 2 libraries to allow the incorporation of Java library items into application design
RoseLink for JDeveloper comes in two versions. The node-locked version, with licenses installed for each individual user, costs 95. In the free-floating version, licenses define the number of concurrent users; it costs ,595. There is a fully functional, 30-day time-limited version.
NetVendor and Jacada partner to integrate e-commerce, legacy systems
NetVendor and Jacada jointly announced that NetVendor has chosen Jacada Connects as a legacy adapter to link mainframe and AS/400 applications to NetVendor’s E.MBRACE Web-enabled e-commerce application.
E.MBRACE is designed to help mid-size manufacturers and distributors of automotive, industrial, and electronics products conduct business-to-business transactions over the Internet. It offers one-to-customer and one-to-community support for secure order placement through a data-driven electronic catalog. It also offers realtime order tracking and facilitates integration between sales forces and their commerce Web sites.
E.MBRACE also delivers quick commercial access to many of the Internet’s vertical trading communities.
Jacada Connects provides a Java API that allows E.MBRACE to interact with both mainframe and AS/400 applications. No changes are required to the original host application. It supports integration through the 5250 and 3270 data streams, so legacy applications don’t need to be rewritten just to get access to the embedded business logic.
E.MBRACE runs on Intel-based platforms and Windows NT Server, supporting Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server databases. Pricing depends on configuration. Jacada Connects can be deployed on AS/400, OS/390, NT, and Solaris servers. Pricing starts at 0,000.
Sun sponsors SmartCardCentral.com
SmartCardCentral.com, an Internet portal for smart card resources, announced that Sun is the first company to sponsor its site.
Patrice Peyret, director of Java Card, which is Sun’s consumer and embedded division, said, “Sun is pleased to be the first sponsor of SmartCardCentral.com. As the Java Card platform continues to gain industry momentum, the need for smart card information and news becomes vitally important. Convenient and portable, smart cards will become essential to anywhere, anytime, any device computing.”
SmartCardCentral.com offers industry news, technical links, and resources on smart cards — basically designed for professionals working in the industry, as well as those in banking, telecommunications, mass transit, government agencies, health care, access control, Internet security, and biometrics. It also sports a directory of companies and associations, industry-related books, a job listings page, and online discussion forums.
It plans to offer conference registration, video interviews, and virtual trade show services in the future.
Sun, HP agree to port Java 3D to HP-UX
Sun and Hewlett-Packard have signed a licensing agreement to port the Java 3D API to HP-UX. The Java 3D API is designed for application developers in the CAD, gaming, and scientific visualization fields. The deal makes the API a more pervasive standard.
HP will make the Java 3D API available on the HP-UX platform for cross-platform, 3D graphics-application development and deployment. The API is already available for Solaris on SPARC and Windows 9x/NT. Soon, it will also be available for IRIX and for Linux (through the Linux Blackdown Porting Team).
The Java 3D API extends Java 2 by letting application developers add 3D capabilities to Java technology-based applications. It is a network-centric, scene-graph-based API, and it allows users to do high-end 3D visualization over a network, regardless of the target platform. It incorporates geometry compression to shrink very large 3D models to a tenth of their original size.
Sun, IBM announce Java Media Framework 2.0 API
Sun and IBM announced the feature set, timeline, and product direction for the Java Media Framework 2.0 API specification and reference implementation (JMF). JMF 2.0 is being jointly developed by the companies.
JMF 2.0 will offer such media-processing abilities as media capture, support for MP3, and a pluggable architecture. It will support audio and video capture, compression and transmission, and support for important media types and codecs such as MP3, Flash, and IBM’s HotMedia.
The JMF 2.0 will sport an open media architecture that lets developers access and alter various components of the media playback process for audio or video, such as effects, tracks, and renders.
JMF 2.0 is available in an early-access product through Sun’s Java Developer Connection. A public beta was released during the third week of August 1999, and the final release of the JMF 2.0 API will be available this fall.
This implementation includes the following versions:
- JMF 2.0 (includes binaries written in Java)
- JMF 2.0 for Web servers (written in Java, lets developers create and serve a customized JAR file that will play back media inside a Java-compatible browser without plugins or client-installed media players)
- JMF 2.0 with performance packs (includes binaries for Solaris or Windows desktops that support additional media types such as MPEG-1 and M-JPEG)
Pricing has not been disclosed.
BEA snaps up Avitek
BEA Systems announced that it has purchased Avitek, a Colorado-based software development firm that focuses on building enterprise solutions based on Java and Enterprise JavaBeans.
Avitek has completed more than 30 Java e-commerce projects for clients, providing technical analysis, design, prototyping, engineering, component assembly, and deployment. The company offers BEA the knowledge and experience — in the form of the development of reusable custom Java components, an advanced rapid prototyping methodology called SteelThread, and a portfolio of components that complement BEA’s existing components — to build e-commerce components with fast time-to-client turnaround.
Terms were not disclosed. Avitek’s staff will continue to work out of the company’s Boulder offices.
Java, Linux may be drawing developers from Microsoft
Maybe Microsoft President Steve Ballmer’s recent grousing that the company is facing stiff competition for software developers is deserved, based on recent findings by GartnerGroup and Forrester Research.
According to GartnerGroup, the portion of all programmers who target Windows as their primary development environment will fall from 65 percent in 1998 to 40 percent in 2000. In the same time period, developers writing browser-based software will rise from 18 percent to 40 percent. (Browser-based applications, to be successful, would by their nature have to be able to run in most browsers.)
According to a Forrester Research study, programmers using the Java and CORBA programming models already outnumber those who use the Microsoft COM programming model by nearly 2-to-1 (44 to 24 percent).
Mike Gilpin, an analyst with the Giga Information Group, says the focus is on the Web. He put it this way: “The world has changed. The conversation years ago was primarily, ‘Which Windows development tools will you use?’ That’s not the conversation anymore. Now, it’s which Web development tools they should use, and Microsoft is just one of the options.”
GartnerGroup also notes that the shortage of experienced Java programmers, coupled with a surplus of Windows developers, may be making some developers learn Java. According to GartnerGroup, Microsoft lays claim to one million programmers in its developer program, but it estimates there are only 300,000 Java developers with experience.
John Rommel, the founder of San Francisco’s Java user group CityJava, says that Java developers with two to three years’ experience can make from 5 to 00 an hour, while Visual Basic programmers average 0 to 0. He notes, “I’ve got four or five clients who are waiting for people who have Enterprise JavaBeans experience. They’re just not out there.”
And Linux’s growing popularity is also a reason to favor Java over Windows-oriented development. Java supports a variety of platforms.
Results from Borland’s Linux Developer Survey
Inprise recently announced results from its Borland Linux Developer Survey, which ran from July 9 to July 31, 1999, and gathered data from 24,194 developers who are interested in development tools for Linux.
Java figured into many of the responses.
When asked, Which language are you primarily interested in developing in on Linux? 11.9 percent answered Java, the third highest answer (after Delphi at 43.9 and C/C++ at 39.9).
When asked what particular development tool they would most like to see for Linux, a respectable 9.7 percent wanted JBuilder.
For the question, Which Internet technologies are you interested in on Linux? 32.6 percent wanted Java Server Pages (almost twice the number requesting ASPs) and a whopping 38.1 percent were interested in XML.
Java/Swing scored with 15.7 percent of respondents when they were asked Which graphics UI toolkit are you interested in developing with?
When asked which component/class framework they preferred, 10.9 percent said Java (34.7 percent chose C/C++ and 31.2 percent picked Object Pascal). A surprising 11.4 percent picked Java for Linux application user interfaces (the overwhelming choice, at 76.4 percent, was any native Linux GUI, to be expected).
Of the respondents, the main development platform at the time of the survey was Windows (59.8), Linux (25), Java (6.3), Solaris/SPARC (2.7), HP-UX (0.8), AIX (0.5), Solaris/Intel and Macintosh (both 0.3).
