Sun, IBM join to announce JavaOS for Business

APRIL 1, 1998 — Sun Microsystems and IBM announced today a co-marketing and development effort on JavaOS for Business. This new operating system intended for desktop network computers will take over from the older generation JavaOS for NCs. Following an earlier announcement of JavaOS for Consumers at JavaOne 98 last week, Sun aims to top off its recent release of the JavaStation family with an operating system that solves some of the issues encountered with the original JavaOS for NCs.

JavaOS has been in the making for almost two years now, according to Troy Toman, Group Marketing Manager for JavaOS, in a recent interview with JavaWorld. The original product was developed by several members, primarily from SunSoft (the same division that handles Sun Microsystems’ flagship Solaris OS) and JavaSoft.

JavaOS history to date

Building an operating system from scratch — and using a continually evolving programming language — has caused problems in the implementation, primarily in the area of application execution performance. JavaOS used existing technology from Solaris, although it did not share code. The first implementation was based upon JDK 1.0.2 and handled basic applications well enough, according to Toman. As Java started to grow, especially with the addition of multimedia, the OS had to handle more and more real-time processing. The list of Java APIs literally grew faster than the team could implement in the OS. Furthermore, the team came to realize that they needed a more established and accessible OS.

Initial reports about the JavaStation complained of slow application startup and processing despite the ample memory (most test systems had 32 megabytes of RAM) and power (the microSPARC II chip used in older JavaStations is the same used in low-end Sun workstations). In addition, JavaOS was not keeping up with the newer Java features, and grew more and more outdated.

Most of the operating system was written directly in Java, with only a small portion specific to the hardware. This level of portability made it easy to take it to the Intel x86, and Advanced RISC Machines microprocessor architectures. With a basic set of device drivers, some test versions of the product were sent out.

With the acquisition of Chorus Microsystems, a well-known French microkernel operating-systems vendor, a new focus came into the JavaOS group. In approximately six months, the JavaOS team was able to create a second version of the OS based upon the Chorus microkernel to replace the existing one written in Java, and implemented only the PersonalJava specification. This increased performance significantly and was pushed as JavaOS for Consumers. This consumer member of the JavaOS family is intended for personal electronic devices such as handheld computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and smart phones. This product competes directly with Microsoft’s Windows CE operating system for handheld computers and personal digital assistants.

JavaOS now

Today’s announcement of JavaOS for Business addresses many of the existing problems. Sun and IBM are not being very specific about the changes to the OS. Primarily, the new version has better centralized network management. The existing JavaStation is configured directly from a Solaris NetraJ server with parameters for system identity delivered to the unit over the network. Similarly, the IBM NetworkStation has an AIX RS/6000-based NetworkStation Manager product. The new version should allow for a common management framework for both JavaStations, NetworkStations, and other JavaOS based desktop NCs. IBM indicates it will initially put the new JavaOS on its higher-end, 1000 line of NetworkStations.

For developers, the device driver system has been redone to make it easier to develop such components. Another core system component that has been discussed is a centralized Java System Database that contains all the information about the OS, the desktop hardware, and the user. This is akin to the registry found in Windows NT and 95, with the exception that it is server-based with a local cache on the desktop.

Finally, the internationalization of Java based NCs has begun. Sun has already demonstrated a Kanji-based JavaStation at the JavaOne 98. Other multi-lingual capabilities will come with this new version.

JavaOS for Business will run on the SPARC, Intel x86, PowerPC, ARM and StrongARM microprocessor platforms. Other vendors such as Hitachi and Mitsubishi have licensed the operating system for their own CPU architectures but have not announced products based upon it. Of particular interest is the StrongARM chip jointly developed by Digital Semiconductor and Advanced RISC Machines, which is a rising leader in powerful low-cost RISC chips.

Over the next twelve months we will probably see an implementation based upon the Chorus microkernel like its JavaOS for Consumers counterpart. In addition, the centralized management features of JavaOS will become even more pervasive with upcoming standards for heterogeneous network computer client/server management. These standards are currently in the works as part of The Open Group’s Open NC initiative with products possibly available 12 months from now.

IBM and Sun together

With this new announcement, Sun and IBM’s Java and NC divisions will cooperate to build a common operating system. However, the actual product lines will stay strictly apart. This means that you will probably see an implementation of JavaOS for Business for the JavaStation and NetworkStation platforms from the respective vendors that are managed by and make use of separate but similar tools.

Although this is a promising note, the slow release of JavaOS and Java-based network computers has hurt the vendors. IBM has had good luck with its NetworkStation line, but only recently announced a Java-based NC. Sun has yet to find more large customers for its product. Most of these successes have been in areas where existing computing infrastructure is not widely distributed. Many companies already have servers capable of managing and supporting Java NCs, but cannot use them because of a lack of heterogeneous server support.

Much of the work for the new versions fall directly into the hands of the JavaOS group, IBM’s NC division, and in the mixed members of the NC management group and the Mobile NC Reference specification group. Today’s announcement indicates that these vendors continue collaborating, trying the network computing idea work. The first implementation of JavaOS for Business will go to the different manufacturers and licensees by mid-1998. A new version of the IBM NetworkStation with this operating system is targeted for early 1999. Sun which has just formally released its JavaStation last month, and has not announced when it will include the new version of JavaOS in its own NCs.