Newsletter sign-up

View all newsletters

Sign up for our Enterprise Java Newsletter

Enterprise Java

As a network computer war looms, Java is the key weapon in Sun's arsenal

McNealy and Co. mean business with their new strategy for NC-based enterprise computing

By Kieron Murphy, JavaWorld.com, 11/30/96

Page 2 of 3

Sun also announced its plans for educating users and administrators, as well as expanding its support services for Java developers. The new education offerings, to be conducted at Sun training sites worldwide, include the Java and Internet Skills Analysis Service, the Java and Internet Training Curriculum, and the Java Certification Program. Sun's new JavaTutor will deliver self-paced learning to users over the Internet or from a CD-ROM. Subscription-based online and live telephone support for developers working with Java will provide 24-hour access to a staff of SunService engineers.

Of bricks and coffee makers

According to Sun, its diskless JavaStation will operate in the new JavaOS operating system (which requires less than 3 megabytes of RAM); it will use HotJava Views as its GUI; and it will let users access the Net and intranets with either the HotJava or Navio Navigator browsers. The new Sun NC will be offered in two form factors: a stylish design for the desktop, called The Coffee Maker; and a plain box design, called The Brick, for out-of-eyesight uses. JavaStations will be offered in configurations using 8MB to 64MB of main memory and 4MB to 8MB of flash memory. The base price for a JavaStation will be 42; a full-featured model will cost 95; and a model equipped with a 17-inch monitor and keyboard will run ,565. The first JavaStation production models are expected to ship in December.

The JavaStation is based on Sun's own SPARC architecture and conforms to the NC Reference 1.0 spec formulated by a group led by Apple Computer, IBM, Oracle, and Sun. Sixty-five companies already have written business applications in Java for the new NC; 38 of them displayed their wares on a show floor set up specially for the JavaStation's unveiling.

Demonstrating the new product's practically costless installation to the audience in New York and those watching via closed-circuit TV, McNealy himself plugged in the cabling and downloaded the operating system for a JavaStation from a dedicated network in a little over two minutes.

War is brewing

Sun, of course, is not alone in its pursuit of capturing market share for the next generation of enterprise desktop computers. Recent announcements by Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM have made it clear that a knockdown-dragout brawl will soon ensue for the hearts and minds of corporate decision-makers worldwide. On Monday, Microsoft released preliminary specs for its NetPC, a stripped-down Intel device (which McNealy called "a PC in a corset") that will run in a new lightweight Windows environment. Oracle, also in conjunction with Intel, is expected to announce next week that its new Network Computer, using Netscape Navigator, will be ready for the public by December. And IBM has released details of its forthcoming Network Station, also expected to be rolled out soon. So the competition in the year ahead should be nothing less than ferocious.

"Sun's release shows that it really knows the game better than most," said Philip Meese, director of technical services for Mercury Technologies, an intranet solutions consultancy for companies on Wall Street. "It's not just the JavaStation. That would never fly by itself. Sun has the vision to simultaneously release the network-management software that definitely will be required to make the NC fly. A war here is a good thing, but peace would be better. Can you imagine if Microsoft put all it's efforts into porting its application base to a chip-independent platform like Java?"

 

About Us | Advertise | Contact Us | Terms of Service/Privacy

Copyright, 2006-2008 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.