Java poised for a comeback

From...

June 13, 2000
Web posted at: 8:42 a.m. EDT (1242 GMT)

by John Cox

(IDG) -- At last week's JavaOne conference there was plenty of evidence that Java seems poised to return to its roots - the client.

The twist is that "the client" refers to desktop computers as well as personal digital assistants, cellular phones and even smart cards.

Much of the buzz at JavaOne centered around the recent release of Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), which is aimed at handheld and embedded systems. Sun also released Java WebStart, a server program that can send a Java application and appropriate virtual machine to end users who click on a link from a Web browser.

Enterprise customers and developers at the conference said they are buying into Java on the client.

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"There's going to be a real renaissance of Java on the desktop," says Duncan Johnston-Watt, managing director of technology for Instinet Global Services' new fixed income trading system, which relies on Java clients and servers.

Those rallying around Java on the client say the technology works as advertised. It lets you write an application once and run it on any device with a Java Virtual Machine, users say, despite testing developers have to do and differences in browser implementations of the virtual machine. Changes to client applications can be downloaded over networks, users can run the applications offline, and IT shops can use a single programming approach to writing client and server Java code.

The range of client activity is striking. Last September, American Express released Blue, a credit card with a built-in microprocessor that incorporates a subset of Java technology, including the JavaCard API. Last week, the company invited Java programmers to win cash prizes ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 by writing new programs that can be downloaded to Blue.

Wireless carriers such as Japan's NTT DoCoMo are using J2ME to create a programming environment for wireless services. By adopting J2ME, DoCoMo and its software partners are creating applications and services for DoCoMo's wireless data Internet, called iMode.

Charles Schwab, meanwhile, is evaluating the use of J2ME to expand the capabilities of its new wireless trading service, launched last week for PalmOS devices and, soon, Blackberry two-way pagers. "The Sun technology looks promising at this stage," says Bharat Patel, Schwab's managing director for wireless solutions.

But Java's appeal is not limited to handheld and smaller clients. Java is arriving on leading-edge companies' corporate desktops, via the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE). Earlier this year, for example, Schwab decided all future applications were to be built with Java.

Enterprise customers are finding that client Java gives them a range of graphical user interface options for internal and external Internet applications.

Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB) is a one example. The division acts as financial advisor to corporate and investment customers with more than $500 million in revenue. Customers use a Web browser, with a plugin from GCIB, to access the division's services. This interface is pure HTML forms, which interact with Java servlets that access host-based data.

"Most financial stuff is really boring," says William Conroy III, senior vice president of the division's software engineering. "Forms-based interactions in HTML do very well for things like entering some data or moving money between accounts." Deploying a Java client would mean monkeying with the configuration of customers' PCs. "They don't want us to configure their PCs," Conroy says.

But on the division's own Windows NT desktops, GCIB has deployed powerful Java applications.

"These applications are working with real-time data feeds," Conroy says. "Our traders need millisecond response times."

Last month's Version 1.3 release of J2SE will make client Java more attractive, some users say.

"There are significant improvements in performance, but most importantly, in reducing the size of the memory footprint [needed by the software]," Instinet's Johnston-Watt says. Sun says that Version 1.3 needs 25% less memory and cuts the initial start-up time for applications by 40%.

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