Sun, IBM pitch JavaOS for NCs as PC complement

Boston (04/01/98) — Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM Corp.’s operating system for network computers will feed a new demand for up to date computing systems, rather than replace desktop PCs, the two companies said.

Sun and IBM plan to make the new software, dubbed JavaOS for Business, available by the third quarter of this year. The operating system, which will be based on Sun’s Java language, will be targeted at the huge installed base of terminals connected to central mainframe computers, according to officials from the companies.

The announcement “clearly positions NCs as additive to the PC, not as a replacement for the PC,” said Janpieter Scheerder, president of Sun subsidiary Sunsoft Inc. and corporate executive officer of Sun Microsystems, during a press conference today.

When Java and NCs were originally announced by Sun, IBM, and Oracle, they were pitched as entities that would compete directly against PCs and, consequently, desktop-software monarch Microsoft Corp. Currently, however, thin-client proponents downplay that battle, as their smaller-than-PC products support Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

“You can’t sell a thin client if you don’t support Windows,” said Norm Bogen, senior analyst at In-Stat Group in Scottsdale, Arizona.

IBM and Sun said they will encourage companies to replace aging terminals with slim NCs running the new Java operating system. Many terminals used for applications such as help desks, reservation centers, and order entry could be replaced by NCs running the new operating system, the companies said. In addition to NCs, JavaOS for Business also will run on updated terminals such as Internet kiosks and ticket machines, they said.

IBM will put the new operating system to use in its high-end NCs, such as NetStation, in early 1999, while Sun will begin to replace the existing version of JavaOS in its JavaStation NCs with JavaOS for Business over the next year.

Sun and IBM also plan to license JavaOS for Business to other companies, such as computer and component manufacturers, and that version will be available in the third quarter, the companies said.

JavaOS for Business will run on thin clients connected to most types of servers and mainframes, the companies said. It will support the ability to implement a wide range of device drivers and will offer better manageability functions than the existing version of JavaOS, the companies said.

Further details were notably missing from the press conference. Both companies said specifics would be announced closer to the third-quarter shipment date.

Analysts said that the joint IBM-Sun Java-based operating system will certainly help drive the standardization effort for Java on thin clients. However, the real significance of the announcement may be the reassurance it gives to developers and others about the fragmentation of NCs and the write-once, run-anywhere promise of Java, they said.

“They just wanted to allay those concerns, which they did,” said Bogen.

Reassurance is especially needed in light of Hewlett-Packard’s recent announcement that it is releasing its own version of a Java virtual machine for embedded systems and Microsoft’s subsequent announcement that it will use that software in its Windows CE operating system, analysts said.

“Both Sun and IBM want the world to know that the NC will not be disturbed by this,” said Tim Sloane, director of Internet infrastructure at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston. “It’s a calming effect on the market.”

But the calm belies a storm that still rages, in spite of IBM and Sun’s stance that NCs are supplementary to PCs. The companies must bide their time while the stock of Java-based back-office applications and desktop applications grows, but once the volume of applications reaches critical mass, the battle will be joined once again, analysts said.

“Clearly both IBM and Sun expect the breadth of Java applications to increase, and I’m confident that they think sometime down the road the NC may challenge the Windows desktop,” Sloane said.

In-Stat’s Bogen agreed. “They’re regrouping by not saying that Java’s going to replace Windows and (that) they’ll coexist, but believe me, they want it to replace Windows,” he said.