Sun Microsystems Inc., Microsoft Corp., Novell Inc., Netscape Communications Corp., IBM Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. Named to List of Companies Seeking to Buy, Invest or Strike Alliances with Small Java DevelopersReport Posted to Computer Reseller News Online (http://www.crn.com) Reveals that While at Least One Dozen Major Companies are Courting Java Developers, Sun is Taking Action to Keep its Lead in the Java ArenaPRNewswire At least a dozen major companies have joined the race to buy, invest or strike strategic alliances with small Java developers, according to a report by Computer Reseller News Senior Writers Deborah Gage and Darryl K. Taft, which is posted to Computer Reseller News Online at http://www.crn.com/. Meanwhile, to maintain its lead in the Java arena, Sun Microsystems Inc., is taking action which includes, in part, segmenting Java into three platforms: Personal Java, Embedded Java and Smart Card Java (CRN Online, March 20). The company will unveil its plans at its JavaOne developers conference this week. Driven by the growing popularity of Java and the need to get products to market more quickly than they can be developed internally, these vendors frequently are courting the same developers to shore up their Java offerings. Bulletproof Corp., which makes Java database tools, has been approached by a cadre of well-known and lesser-known companies, said sources familiar with those talks. Scott Milener, chief executive of the Los Gatos, Calif., company, declined to comment on any talks his company has had. But Milener named Sun Microsystems Inc., Microsoft Corp., Novell Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and IBM Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. as the top Java hunters, followed by a second tier of tools vendors that include Symantec Corp. "Components and tools will go first, and then people will consolidate and do applications," Milener said. "All of this gets Java in front of the IT managers. Right now they're playing with it but they don't know what to do with it." Delbert Yocam, chairman and chief executive of Borland International Inc., likewise said his company is on the Java acquisition trail and is looking at buying an Internet/intranet tools developer. Symantec also is exploring opportunities for acquisition or investment, said company executives. The acquisition frenzy also has prompted some companies to take steps to fend off potential suitors. "The component business is starting to get hot," said Wayne Williams, president of Connect Corp., Scottsdale, Ariz., which develops Java tools to speed up application performance. He said Connect just completed an acquisition as a safety precaution to guard against being acquired itself. In the midst of this flurry of acquisitions and investments, Sun is taking other actions to keep its lead in the Java arena. At its JavaOne developers conference this week, Sun's JavaSoft unit will disclose plans to segment Java into three platforms: Personal Java, Embedded Java and Smart Card Java (CRN Online, March 20). Personal Java is for set-top boxes, smart phones and personal digital assistants. Embedded Java is for printers and copiers. Card Java is the firmware operating environment that runs on a smart card. "Programmers can program to a proper subset of the desktop Java APIs," said James Mitchell, vice president of technology and architecture at JavaSoft. "This ising an application that works on these personal devices. You write it once and it will run on any of these portable devices and on the desktop. This is a bigger volume opportunity for application writers." Sun VARs said the segmentation will help. "Sun is in the position of controlling both sides of the fence," said Don Legnitto, senior vice president of research and development at Basis Inc., Emeryville, Calif. "Microsoft has never been able to control the instruction set of a chip, although they can influence it from a business perspective. But Sun can control it. It helps when you're writing the language and (developing) the chip." But expanding Java also raises nagging organizational questions for Sun. Several resellers said they have been waiting months for Sun's JavaStations, which are back-ordered and are just now becoming available. "If engineering can follow Java's lead they'll be in good shape, but if engineering tries to run ahead of the language they'll have problems," said one Sun reseller. "If the Java camp releases a new part of the language (like JavaBeans) and it's not deployed on Sun's systems, that means extra development time for me." Sun's business units occasionally have tripped over each other in the race to get Java and Sun technology everywhere. "Maybe (the segmentation of Java) will help JavaSoft better focus its efforts to support what is still the largest software business, shrink-wrapped software," said Leo Lucas, chief technology officer of Aimtech Inc., a Nashua, N.H.-based Java tools developer. "We are constantly chased by Microsoft product evangelists, but we never hear from JavaSoft." Microsoft this week will disclose expansion of and developer support for its Application Foundation Classes, cross-platform Java classes that run very fast on Windows. Microsoft said the classes are implemented as JavaBeans and allow developers to create rich multimedia applications. Microsoft also said it is staying out of smart-card firmware, working instead with partners on a specification for integrating PCs with smart cards. "We've found that subsetting (Windows on a smart card) causes incompatibilities," said Charlie Chase, senior program manager with Microsoft's Personal and Business Systems Division. Published by CMP Media Inc., Computer Reseller News has a circulation of more than 115,000 and reaches influential readers from Wall Street to Silicon Valley with the product trends and industry news needed to sell comprehensive technology solutions. CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the entire high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb site on the World Wide Web (http://www.techweb.com/). Along with Computer Reseller News, CMP's other print titles include EE Times, Computer Retail Week, InformationWeek, and Windows Magazine. -0- 3/28/97 SOURCE: CMP Media Inc. CONTACT: Robert Faletra, 516-733-8612, Robert DeMarzo, 516-733-8641, |