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Java: Small is beautiful
(IDG) -- Listen to Sun CEO Scott McNealy at trade shows, and it's easy to conclude that Sun expects the real payoff for its Java programming language to come in the market for embedded consumer devices. McNealy's standard stump speech depicts a future - nay, a present - in which embedded Java virtual machines turn home appliances such as telephones, stereos and automobiles into sophisticated computers, thus transforming any bearer of a Java ring into master of his own personal networked domain. Sun's strategy makes sense: Forecasts for the embedded software market universally project huge growth in the consumer sector.
But Sun officials say embedded Java is more than just a consumer play. They say it has the ability to help companies extend their networks to include devices previously left out of the loop and in the process streamline supply-and-demand chain operations and gather vital market information. The technology that will enable this is the recently released Java Embedded Server (JES), according to Jonathan Schwartz, director of enterprise products for Sun's Java Software division. JES is a small application server that can reside on a variety of remote devices, including gas pumps, ATM machines, faxes, copiers, routers and switches, vending machines, manufacturing equipment and Web telephones.
Many such devices already have computers that respond to requests from users or determine what kind of dollar bills have been put in and how much change to return. However, these devices are generally isolated from the network, thus forcing companies to send out workers to perform routine maintenance, replenish inventory and upgrade features. With JES, remote devices can upload, download, activate and deploy customized services and applications via the Internet, Schwartz says. The JES architecture consists of two components: a JavaServer Engine comprised of APIs for control of plug-and-play services and applications; and the JavaServer Services, which the JavaServer Engine invokes and manages. JES is configurable by OEMs, vendors and customers, ensuring flexibility as new services and applications are needed, Schwartz says. Schwartz says JES is ideally suited for companies such as utilities, gasoline distributors, retailers that rely heavily on vending machine sales - any firm that relies on workers to manually gather information from devices. "Internet-enabling things like vending machines and gasoline pumps not only makes it easier to service and upgrade them remotely, it also provides much higher quality customer data because it removes human error," he says. "It also makes supply-and-demand chain operations more efficient and less costly." One analyst agrees. "Coca-Cola does a huge percentage of its business through vending machines," says Anne Thomas, senior consultant at Boston-based Patricia Seybold Group. "But Coke doesn't have information about what cans are sold through the vending machines because all the computer inside the vending machine can do is handle transactions. It can't communicate. "JES allows you to connect that computer sitting in the vending machine to corporate systems," she says. "So the machine can tell the distributor its precise inventory requirements if it needs more Diet Coke or more Sprite. That way the delivery drivers know what to put on their trucks." Further, Thomas says, JES allows developers to write applications such as billing programs in Java so that the applications work on any JES-enabled device. JES costs $3,500 for one developer's seat and $72,500 for a 25-seat license.
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