JavaWorld News Briefs (5/1/97)

Borland CEO predicts the future of Java

Dimension X supports Microsoft Application Foundation Classes

Ellison says NCs need “Intel Inside”

Forrester Research claims ActiveX/Java speeding past CORBA

Get a prelease of Microsoft’s AFC

Get Windows for Java with Exodus NTERPRISE

HDS NCs are faster, with lower prices

IBM/Lotus team up on e-business apps

IDC says by 2000, Internet spending will top 2 billion

Intel claims Java runs best on Intel

Java cryptography library debuts at Comm97

Java performance on NCs not up to speed

JDK to get summer ’97 tune-up

JStream Java-compresses files

Kona applets readied for NCI NC software

Lotus NotesPump beta gets Java support

Microsoft refutes Sun’s ActiveX demonstration

NCs close in on standards

NCD supplies Windows for IBM machines

NCI software good for NC desktops and servers

NEC to run NCI server software on its machines

NetAcquire Java Toolkit from Real Time

NetCaster “pushes” into next Communicator release

NetHopper mobile browser will support Java

Netiva creates Web database app

Netscape’s Directory SDK now supports LDAP

Philips announces NC device based on NCI/Intel platform

Public beta of MerzScope mapper available

RSA’s BSafe BComes JSafe

Segmented Java draws support

Universal language: truly “write once, run anywhere

With Edgeworx VBA, who needs Java?

Xelfi delivers visual IDE for Java

It seems that Acer Group officials helped Oracle’s Larry Ellison change his NC strategy. The group said consumers won’t go for NCs without “Intel Inside,” and Ellison bit. “It just hit me,” Ellison said. “It took me a while to see that we needed to go with the flow of the existing industry.”

At OpenWorld, where Oracle debuted its first network computers, Oracle also announced it has received broad support from Intel. Oracle’s original design was based on the StrongARM RISC chip, designed by Digital and the UK-based Acorn Computer Group. This shift in strategy pits Intel against Microsoft.

Proton Electronic Industrial, Akai Digital Electronics, Funai Electric, Philips Electronics, and Accton Technology will be providing new Intel Pentium-based clients and servers. The units will be priced both above and below the 00 mark and will ship with Netscape Navigator, a text editor, an address book, a scheduler, an email app, and presentation graphics based on Oracle subsidiary Network Computer Inc.’s Hat Trick Java suite.

NCI’s take: “Nobody had ever heard of the ARM chip, and jumping not only to a totally new paradigm of computing but using all totally new technology underneath was a little frightening to some,” said Jerry Baker, president of NCI.

Back to headlines

Baltimore Technologies is shipping J/CRYPTO, a Java-based cryptography class library that implements RSA, DES, Triple-DES, SHA1, MD5, Diffie-Hellman, and other cryptographic functions. The library should plug into the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA) and will comply with Sun’s Java Cryptography Extension (JCE). Cryptography is important to Java developers for authentication and validation of Java apps, making Java secure enough to operate financial and communications markets.

The J/CRYPTO developers addressed Java’s memory management and virtual memory system weaknesses by developing an obfuscation class, which renders sensitive data, such as secret keys, undetectable to other programs.

J/CRYPTO’s features include:

• A wide range of Java classes, such as:

  • Optimized Multi-Precision Arithmetic Modules
  • Pseudo-Random Number Generation
  • RSA key generation/encryption
  • SHA-1 and MD5 Hashing
  • DES and Triple-DES encryption
  • Diffie Hellman Key Exchange Mechanism

• Full-strength key sizes (512-, 1024-, 2048-bit RSA keys, 112-bit Triple-DES)

• Fast format RSA keys (Chinese remainder theorem & Fermat-4)

• Elimination of weak/possibly weak DES and RSA keys

• Obfuscation of secret keys and other sensitive data

• Compatibility with PKCS 1, 3, 5, 8, 11

• Sample applications and benchmarking

Baltimore Tech intends to add Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), IDEA, RC2, RC4, BSA4, BSA5 ciphers, and a range of high-speed stream ciphers to future implementations of J/CRYPTO.

J/CRYPTO’s first customer was the Swiss COMIT Gruppe, developers of banking and e-commerce applications.

https://www.baltimore.ie/jcrypto.htm

Back to headlines

Borland CEO Delbert Yocam explained to the Java Aces (100 elite Java development engineers) at Sun that new development tools must reduce the risk of deployment in enterprise computing environments if Java is to become the number one development platform for new projects by the year 2000. The solution: Bring new Java development tools to the market — tools that provide cross-platform interoperability, high performance, reliability, and scalability. “If Java is to gain the corporate acceptance that we hope it will,” said Yocam, “it is imperative that customers have access to high-performance, scalable, and pure Java development tools.”

Yocam also expects that “by the year 2000, Java will be the leading programming environment for all new development projects.” He added, “The fastest way for Java to gain credibility at the enterprise level is for vendors like Borland to provide high-quality, high-end Java tools that will attract developers to Java for enterprise development.” To press this point, Yocam estimated that there are 300,000 Java developers worldwide, while Borland has sold more than 600,000 copies of its development environment, Delphi.

In answer to the five most frequently-asked questions from customers (listed below), Yocam mentioned that Borland provides scalability, interoperability, support for open standards, and performance.

• How do you integrate existing applications, systems, skills, and resources?
• How do you overcome the backlog to develop applications more quickly?
• How do you ensure applications can handle large volumes of data and users?
• How do you provide reliability/security in new distributed environments?
• How do you reduce development risk without ending up in a standards war?

Back to headlines

The next release of Liquid Motion Pro, Dimension X’s Java-based multimedia Web design package, will support the Microsoft Application Foundation Classes for Java (AFC) to add more user interface and graphics capabilities to the software. “By using AFC, our developers were able to quickly and easily build common user interface and graphics elements, freeing them to focus their attention on features that add real value to Liquid Motion Pro,” says Karl Jacob, Dimension X CEO. “AFC’s rich feature set and robust functionality helps us deliver a potent tool which ultimately enables the creation of more dynamic and compelling content for our customers.”

Liquid Motion Pro 1.1 is available for 25, running on Windows 95, NT 4.0, Solaris 2.3, 2.4, or 2.5.

https://www.dimensionx.com/products/lm

Back to headlines

Grab a pre-release of Microsoft’s Application Foundation Classes (AFC), a collection of Java class libraries that help developers quickly create commercial-quality, cross-platform Java applications. The preview release provides the AFC GUI libraries, including a set of pre-built user interface components.

Who has jumped on the AFC bandwagon? The following is a list of products and their companies:

• SuperCede from Asymetrix
• Concinity from Calico Technology
• WAV from Digital Harbor
• Leadership Development Web site from ELF Systems
• Harmania from JB Development
• Jclass Live Table Pro and Jclass Chart from KL Group
• Extreme Java Tools from Neuron Data
• PARTS from ObjectShare
• Powersoft PowerJ RAD Java from Powersoft
• Thin Mint from Shoreline Teleworks
• ObjectiveGrid/AFC from Stingray Software
• Obsydian from Synon
• ViewSoft Internet from ViewSoft
• SamePage from Web Flow
• JetConnect from XDB Systems

Aimtech, Dimension X, Exeter Educational Management Systems, FutureTense, LikeMinds, Metrowerks, Neural Applications, VI/Visualize, and others have also announced support for AFC.

https://www.microsoft.com/java/

Back to headlines

Microsoft has published a document that refutes Sun CEO Scott McNealy’s potentially damaging ActiveX demo at the recent JavaOne developers conference. McNealy demonstrated an ActiveX security flaw, one that could allow a hacker to break into a computer user’s personal files. The document is called “The Facts About ActiveX and Security Compared with Recent Statements from Sun Microsystems.”

Sun commissioned a developer (for ,000) to write an ActiveX program that would take over a person’s computer and rifle through personal files.

Microsoft claims this is not a security flaw — that a Java applet or Netscape Navigator plug-in can be written to do the same thing. The Java sandbox (an enclosed, virtual space where downloaded Java apps are corralled) restricts the usefulness of Java apps, since the apps cannot use system resources from within the sandbox. Microsoft claims Sun realizes this, and that the next version of Java will use a “trust-based” security model similar to the one ActiveX currently uses. (A trust model identifies the certified provider of a program and then allows users to decide whether to trust that provider.)

The Microsoft document even provides links to information on Sun’s and Netscape’s upcoming trust models. Those who are interested can compare and contrast.

The document also notes that, even though most media didn’t note it, the version of Microsoft Internet Explorer that McNealy used warned him before the download started that he had the option not to download the program. In the IE default setting, a user cannot download an ActiveX program that has not been digitally signed by the author. And even when the user changes the priority, IE still provides warning before download can proceed.

Oh, and Microsoft says the author of this ActiveX stealth program may have sold his license to create and sell software, since he violated the license agreement.

Original document: https://www.microsoft.com/security/actxclar.htm

Sun’s trust model: https://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/docs/guide/security/index.html

Netscape’s trust model: https://www.netscape.com/assist/security/objectsign/datasheet.html

Microsoft’s trust model: https://www.Microsoft.com/security/swdownload1.htm

Back to headlines

The Java-based webMethods Automation Toolkit, from webMethods, lets developers create applications that automate access from Web-based data and services from within business apps — using standard HTML and HTTP. While most Web software tools deliver applications to the Web, the Automation Toolkit reverses the process, with both retrieval and update capabilities.

With Web Automation’s bi-directional process, a company’s business processes can be integrated with the business process of another vendor, supplier, or even internal business units — without using a browser.

Java classes generated by the Automation Toolkit provide transparent access to Web data and services from standalone and server-side Java apps, as well as browser-based applets.

A new Automation Engine from webMethods is a pure Java application that runs alongside Web servers and generates HTML documents from automation templates. These templates point to other Web addresses as data sources. The Automation Engine enables easier aggregation and retrieval of specific data from diverse Web sites. The Automation Engine and the Automation Toolkit has been designed to operate successfully together or independently, depending on customer needs.

https://www.webmethods.com

Back to headlines

MerzCom released a beta of MerzScope, its Java-based mapping and viewing package that allows users to produce dynamic graphical maps of any collection of Web pages and links. MerzScope maps are completely relational, so surfers can view a complete graphical overview of a map and navigate with a mouse click. “Hierarchical lists of URLs don’t work when they get too long,” said company president Henry See.

MerzScope is intended for Web site designers and consists of a mapping application and a small applet used to view and navigate the maps. Designers seed the application with a single Web page and then start expanding through the URLs on that page. They can then structure the map by placing pages where they wish, adding graphics and text to enhance the map’s appearance. The map may also be easily revised, should the mapped content change frequently.

MerzScope features dynamic zoom, which allows the developer to isolate a node or collection of nodes and focus more narrowly to see increasing levels of detail. The package’s semantic zoom reveals information about a Web page in finer detail as the viewer approaches. MerzScope also has a “surf-tracking” feature that keeps a dynamic log of previously visited pages and their current position in the map.

Beta release: https://www.merzcom.com/

More info: https://www.merzcom.com/eng/merzscope/about.html

Back to headlines

In June, Netiva Software will release a Web database application — software that allows users to quickly create multi-user intranet database applications that are instantly accessible to hundreds of users through a Web browser. The company claims its product was designed especially for the Web, so users don’t have to hack together various technologies to create a data-intensive Web application.

“The Web is the ultimate multi-user, database platform, but until now there has been no database application for it,” said Steve Pollock, Netiva VP. “Databases have always been powerful tools, but they are exponentially more useful in a Web environment where the platform itself supports multi-user interaction and easy, ubiquitous access to information.”

The Netiva app comes in three parts: the Netiva Designer, the Netiva Server, and the Netiva Intelligent Java Client.

With Netiva Designer, developers create the application, then with a simple menu command, they move the app to the Windows 95- or NT-based server. Users can then point their browser to the database URL and start using the application. The Intelligent Java Client makes the app seem to operate locally, although the calculation is occurring on the server. Some of the product’s technical features are:

• Integrated Web database designers and application server
• A plethora of powerful macros
• An intuitive page design process
• Custom starter apps
• Support for popular data formats (import, export, and transactions)
• Netiva’s DataPage technology

Netiva’s DataPage technology (patent pending) allows users to draw a page, then the software automatically creates a relational database structure under it.

A five-seat license will cost 99. The unlimited license costs ,999. Netiva 1.0 will be available in June 1997.

https://www.netiva.com/info/index.html

Back to headlines

Exodus Technologies has released NTERPRISE 1.2, software that lets users run Windows apps on Java machines. It is designed for MIS departments.

With NTERPRISE, users can:

• Run the available Windows-based applications from Unix workstations and X terminals.
• Run Windows applications in their native Windows NT environment.
• Share Windows programs among multiple users from a single server.
• Cut and paste data between Windows and Unix applications.
• Run off-the-shelf Windows apps without special setups.
• Get separate windows for each application using the multi-windows mode.

In addition, the software

• supports open industry-standard X protocol.
• doesn’t require the user to address the Windows NT platform directly — access to the NT server is available from any terminal on the network.
• lets users run newer Windows “protected mode” and 32-bit applications on older, slower 286- and 386-based PCs with third-party X server programs.
• uses an advanced, multi-user kernel.
• is available for Intel, PowerPC, and Digital AlphaServer-based servers.
• includes TFTP utility, which permits X terminal users to boot their own terminals from the Windows NT server, without a Unix host.
• supports open industry standard XDM access protocol.

NTERPRISE works with Intel, PowerPC, or Digital AlphaServer platforms. It allows users to run as many Windows applications in as many windows as they like. Data can be moved seamlessly between Windows programs and the Unix apps.

For ,545, users get a five-seat starter kit. ,795 will buy a 10-user license.

https://www.exodustech.com/aboutNTERPRISE.html

Back to headlines

Network Computing Devices (NCD) has joined with IBM to create the NOW program, an effort to bring multi-user windows solutions to the corporate marketplace that uses IBM Network Workstations. Besides educating and supporting IBM Business Partners (resellers of IBM products), NCD allows them to resell its WinCenter Windows emulation software.

WinCenter allows Network Station users to use Windows applications from their machines, as well as AS/400, 3270, Unix, and other legacy applications. Lorraine Hariton, senior VP of marketing and business development for NCD, said, “Traditional AS/400 and RS/6000 VARs, as well as Windows NT VARs, can now offer their customers access to Windows applications through a centralized server architecture [with WinCenter]. This enables the VAR community to provide their users with the desktop applications they want, while ensuring minimal IS headaches for their customers.”

One of the product offerings available through NOW consists of an IBM PC server, WinCenter, and five Network Stations. IBM Business Partners who sell NOW packages by June 30, 1997, and install them by September 30, 1997, will receive ,000 from IBM as an incentive to develop the necessary skills to deliver network computing to its customers. NCD is supporting participating business partners through a price promotion on WinCenter.

What’s this got to do with Java? Setups like this one give a Java-enabled network the ability to keep productivity alive — by having access to the world’s largest repository of business software — Windows software.

Back to headlines

Xelfi Technologies released Xelfi 0.9 — a visual integrated development environment (IDE) for Java programmers. This RAD tool comes with an integrated editor, browser, compiler, and debugger.

Xelfi is a multi-windowed IDE: Developers can see all the applications that are open on the desktop. The main window consists of a main menu, a toolbar of commonly used commands, and a component palette to hold users’ favorite modules.

The customizable Xelfi class browser lets developers follow the class path to review packages and classes at the same time — complete with inheritance information — as well as modify class and method headers.

The template system includes templates for empty Java sources, non-visual classes, and visual classes. Any class or form can be saved as a template, along with any developer-added components, property settings, and Java code.

The Xelfi visual programming tool comes in four parts:

• Form Window: A Java frame or dialog, the user can add, delete, or move components in this window.
• Component Inspector: This windows shows properties of selected components and allows developers to edit the properties.
• Component Palette: A clickable repository for favorite components.
• Menu Editor: A tree structure that allows users to edit the menu.

Xelfi has a compiler interface (not a compiler) that allows a link to an internal or external compiler. It also has a debugger interface.

Currently, Xelfi generates code compatible with JDK 1.02. Support of JDK 1.1 code is coming. Xelfi-generated code has been tested to varying degrees for various systems. For example,

• Thoroughly tested and stable:

  • Windows NT
  • Windows 95
  • OS/2

• Tested, but not thoroughly:

  • Solaris (sometimes crashes VM)
  • Linux

• No idea (Xelfi would love feedback):

  • Macintosh
  • HP-UX
  • others

You can download this shareware for a 30-day trial period. Registration is 0.

https://www.xelfi.cz/productOverview.html

Back to headlines

IBM and Lotus jointly announced integrated application development packages for building, deploying, and managing electronic commerce applications. The packages (which support Java and JavaBeans) include Lotus Go Pro, Lotus Notes Designer for Domino, and IBM VisualAge.

Lotus Go Pro is the code name for a Web design package that includes the Lotus Go server, NetObjects Fusion, and Lotus BeanMachine for Java, a new Java visual development tool from Lotus. Developers can create Beans-based applets with the BeanMachine, then slap them on the pages with Fusion, and not write a single line of Java code. With the JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) standard, they can access database information to include on the site.

Lotus Notes Designer for Domino is an integrated development environment (IDE) based on a secure, distributed document database that combines information storage with enterprise-wide messaging, replication, security, and workflow. This IDE lets developers rapidly create strategic business applications. The package includes Notes Global Designer (for the rapid creation of multi-lingual applications), the BeanMachine, as well as support for Java server agents, ActiveX components, and HTML.

IBM VisualAge offers the complete package for professional Java developers to create interactive Web applications across clients, Web servers, and enterprise servers. VisualAge supports Domino and Go servers, and includes:

• The BeanMachine
• NetObjects Fusion
• VisualAge for Java (a development environment for creating scalable Web applications)
• VisualAge Runner (from Taligent, used to develop JavaBeans and server-based Web apps)

Lotus Go Pro: https://www2.lotus.com/developers/tools/gopro.nsf

Lotus BeanMachine: https://www.ibm.com/java/appletauthor/html/beanmachine_home.html

Notes Global Designer: https://www2.lotus.com/developers/tools/ngd.nsf/c2d6812be195b02a852564520067cb25/d5f4178ccc35302085256449005b8147?OpenDocument

VisualAge for Java: https://www.software.ibm.com/ad/vajava/

VisualAge Runner: https://ftp-products2.taligent.com/Toolkit/wrtoolkit.htm

Back to headlines

Oracle’s Network Computer Inc. announced its suite of software for network computers (NCs), including NC Desktop software, NC Server software, and NC Card smart card software.

The NC Desktop software includes a desktop operating system, Netscape Navigator, Java virtual machine, and a multimedia Video User Interface (VUI). The desktop also provides a range of standard user tools, such as email, personal calendar and address book, text editor, file manager, and news feed ticker. The software (which receives automatic, transparent updates from the server) can reside on the network or in ROM on the NC.

The NC Desktop editor renders text automatically in HTML format for cross-platform file sharing. The NC Desktop’s Java VM has a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. For multimedia purposes, the software supports Quicktime, Real Audio, MPEG, AVI, as well as streaming video formats. Users also get the NC Connect option so their desktops can emulate Windows, 3270, 5250, and VT 220 machines (running with ARM, StrongARM, or Intel processors) to access existing apps.

The NC Server software supports a high-performance operating system, the Oracle universal database, an application-development environment, and thousands of applications. The Server (designed to support Oracle’s Network Computing Architecture) consists of the NCOS operating system, NC Services software for managing NCs, and NC Applications. Applications include:

• Oracle Interoffice — email, document management, and company-wide calendar and scheduling software.
• Composer — a Java-based productivity suite of a word processor and presentation graphics apps.

The NC Card smart card software allows secure and reliable communication and commerce across the Internet. It’s based on the ISO 7816 standard.

NC Desktop, NC Server, and NC Card will start shipping in May 1997 (limited quantities only); NCI hopes to get up to full speed in the summer. The products will start at 45 for a 5-user server with additional users available at 49 per named user.

https://www.nc.com/collat.html

Back to headlines

Network Computer Inc. (NCI) and Philips Business Electronics have completed a software licensing agreement that will allow Philips to market a network computer that runs NCI’s NC software and operating system. The first NC devices will be powered by the Intel Pentium 133MHz processor, and Philips expects it to retail under 00. Users should be able to connect the device to a TV set or computer monitor (anywhere in the world) since Philips plans for the NC to support worldwide TV display standards (PAL, NTSC, as well as VGA). The product will also support standard network interfaces, including Fast Ethernet, CD-ROM, infrared, as well as wireless keyboard and mouse.

Bonnie Crater, NCI strategic marketing VP said, “Adding an international manufacturer of Philips’ caliber to the list of network computer suppliers brings the industry one step closer to making network computing a global reality.”

The Philips NCs will run NCI’s NC Desktop system software. The company expects to start delivering network computers as early as June 1997 and will initially market them in Asia and the Pacific, with Europe likely to follow.

Back to headlines

NEC Corp. is currently involved in certifying NCI’s NC Server software on its Express Server platform. After the software is certified, NEC will offer the hardware and software system for sale to small- to medium-sized organizations.

The Express Server platform is one of the best-selling Intel-based servers in Japan, with a wide variety of systems compatibility and scalability, ranging from the low-end single Pentium processor model to the high-end SMP model with 8 PentiumPro processors.

Taiji Suzuki, NEC’s C and C Systems Group VP said, “This solution [Express Server and NC Server software] addresses the demands of the fast growing WebComputing market segment and becomes a very attractive addition to NEC’s total solution offering.”

Back to headlines

Lotus has plans to enable its Java-based Kona applets for NCI’s NC Desktop NC software. Lotus has several JavaBeans productivity applets — scheduled to ship in the third quarter of ’97 — that would make it easier for developers to develop and deploy Java business applications.

“Oracle and Lotus understand the importance of thin-client computing,” said Lotus president, Jeff Papows. “By offering these two powerful technologies as one fully compatible solution, we are leading the way toward a new, open, network-centric computing paradigm. While others talk about the future, we are delivering it.”

Back to headlines

Intel has made benchmark tests available that show Java runs best on Intel Architecture processors. The tests show that a 100MHz Pentium-based system ran Java 1.5 to 2 times faster than systems with processors from other vendors. This information was published in a white paper called “Java Performance.” Intel used Pendragon Software’s CaffeineMark tests.

“Java system performance, as measured by the CaffeineMark, often depends more on the Java virtual machine software than on the hardware,” said Ivan Phillips, president of Pendragon Software. “Due to the intense competition in the Java compiler market for Windows PCs, today’s fastest implementations of Java run on the Intel Architecture.” Performance tuning can produce a huge effect on application performance. Not widely known outside the developer community, applications created with the platform-independent approach of Java still rely on virtual machine code, which must be adapted to each individual processor type.

“Because Java is playing a key role in applications for computing, Intel is providing the best computing environment for Java,” said Pat Gelsinger, VP/GM of Intel’s Desktop Products Group. “Businesses can accelerate their use of multimedia through exciting Java applications and, at the same time, be assured they’re getting top Java performance from the solid Intel Architecture their computing systems are already built on.”

“Java Performance” white paper: https://www.intel.com/procs/perf/java.htm

Other test results: https://www.webfayre.com/index.html

Back to headlines

JStream introduces its JPress Document format (JPD), a cross-platform Java document format capable of compressing a 10.2 megabyte FrameMaker file to a 311 kilobyte JPD file. The file format works with JStream’s WiredWrite publishing application, which allows users to produce long, highly stylized, pure Java documents with a compact size.

The JPD consists of three parts:

• A 75 kilobyte applet viewer with the intelligence required to render or style any and all typographical effects created or imported into WiredWrite.
• A dictionary of all the unique words used to create the document.
• The data stream where the word markers and stylization tags are stored.

The technology used in creating the dictionary (which compresses the unique words in the document rather than transferring every word as part of an ASCII stream) and the Java-based style runs (which compresses each style into one or two bites rather than using the memory-intensive SGML or HTML tags) results in documents as small as one-tenth the size of their HTML or PDF counterparts.

https://www.jstream.com/front.html

Back to headlines

The Netscape Directory Software Development Kit (available now) lets developers build applications that access networked directory data through the standard Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP, RFC 1777). The SDK includes the Java-based Directory IFC, developed jointly with NCware Technologies.

The SDK features:

• complete implementation of LDAP standards.
• C-Language LDAP API (RFC 1823-compatible).
• Java-Based Directory IFC.

• Command-Line Utilities that perform basic LDAP operations, including:

  • adding new entries to the directory.
  • modifying an entry in the directory.
  • deleting an entry in the directory.
  • searching for entries in the directory.

https://developer.netscape.com/library/one/sdk/directory/index.html

Back to headlines

Sun Microsystems’ segmented Java strategy, which debuted at JavaOne, has vendors lining up to support Java on various platforms, including Bull HN and Curtis Mathes.

Bull HN Information Systems has decided on the Java Card API and Java technology as its operating environment for multi-application smart card-based systems. Bull has also licensed the Java Applet Environment, the Java card API, and the JavaOS operating system from Sun. Bull officials said the company will extend the Java Card specifications past smart-card applications to its terminals and point-of-sale devices. The focus will be on formal security validation, key management, and systems integration. Alain Couder, president of Bull Personal Transaction Systems, said, “Our objective is to provide the highest security level required for any payment scheme, while leveraging the flexibility and interoperability provided by Java.”

The Curtis Mathes Holding Corp. has also decided to leverage the flexibility of Java by licensing it for its coming implementations of uniView products. uniView appliances (which deliver Internet services such as email and Web surfing, and communication services such as speakerphone and fax) connect to your television or come installed on the company’s sets. Although uniView can already run Java apps, the company wants to add Personal Java capabilities to its devices. Patrick Custer, Curtis Mathes CEO, said becoming a Java licensee opens up “enormous opportunities.”

Original story: https://techweb.cmp.com/crn/dailies/weekending041897/apr14digC.html

Back to headlines

Forrester Research’s report, “Objects on the Net,” points out that programmers have become frustrated waiting for The Object Management Group to come out with CORBA-compliant software, and are moving on to simpler architectures such as Microsoft’s Common Object Model and Sun’s JavaBeans model.

In the survey, CORBA had achieved only a 14 percent penetration rate in Fortune Magazine Top 1000 companies, primarily because large companies are moving away from building heavy-duty, company-specific applications and toward low-cost, disposable components.

No penetration rates were given for Java or ActiveX.

Original story: /cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?970416.wforrest.htm

Back to headlines

Antares Alliance Group has introduced Edgeworx, an intranet development tool that veers from the Java path for building network applications. Edgeworx lets developers build intranet applications using Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications and supports the DCOM distributed computing protocol. Is this just a marketing strategy?

Casey Green, product manager for Edgeworx, says VB is more mature and stable than Java. And, Antares didn’t want to compete with the plethora of Java tools already on the market. “Despite the tremendous industry hype behind Java, the fact is there are orders of magnitude more Visual Basic developers today than there are Java developers. When it comes to building Web applications, why would these people want to abandon the feature-rich VB environment they know for Java? The answer is they don’t want to — and they won’t.”

Edgeworx is aimed at developers who are building back-office applications. Edgeworx applications run on Windows 95 or NT 4.0. Differing from Microsoft’s VB, Edgeworx’s form builder is meant for designing network applications, while VB’s is geared toward desktop applications. To build an intranet app, the developer drops ActiveX controls onto the form. Commonly used components can be saved in a reusable ActiveX library.

Edgeworx is priced at 99, and can be downloaded from Cybersource at https://www.software.net/.

https://www.edgesite.com/

Back to headlines

Netscape’s latest attempt to wrest the definition of push technology away from Microsoft has taken the form of NetCaster, a push client component that will be available with the fourth beta version of Communicator Web client, coming soon. Netscape also has lined up 20 publishers to provide content for NetCaster, including ABCNews.com, CNN, and CBS Sportsline. NetCaster will support 10 channels for corporate use, according to company officials.

IS managers don’t see the amount of pushed information as an issue — they are more concerned with how to control that information. “Too much of a good thing affects productivity,” said Richard Lester, VP of information services for Associated Grocers. “I’m going to control this pretty tightly by setting up a fairly narrow funnel and actually passing judgment on each piece.”

Netscape’s answer is the AutoAdmin component in Communicator Pro and a separately available Administration Kit that will let IS managers preconfigure and lock down Communicator preferences and channels.

Back to headlines

A new report from IDC says user spending on Internet/intranet products and services will explode from about 8.5 billion in 1996 to 2.4 billion in the year 2000. These numbers exclude products and services for which Internet and intranet access is a secondary use.

The key conclusion from this data is that the Internet and intranets are replacing the PC as the engine for IT market growth.

Here are definitions in the context of the report.

• network computers — “a wide variety of non-PC and end-user access devices designed specifically for accessing the Internet and intranets.”

• servers — “only those systems for which running Internet server software is the primary purpose.”

• software — “software products originally conceived and designed to provide and/or service applications where the primary client interface is a browser or a browser proxy.”

• services — “focused specifically on helping customers exploit the Internet and intranets.”

• network equipment — “ISP and public network provider spending on key LAN/WAN equipment, routers, ATM switches, multiplexors, and remote access servers.”

https://www.idcresearch.com/

Back to headlines

HDS Network Systems has introduced a number of changes in its NC products. The company has reduced prices of its @workStations by as much as 25 percent while increasing performance by as much as 30 percent.

Design and manufacturing processes have affected the changes, according to company officials. Part of the design changes include an upgraded RISC processor and a redesigned motherboard.

Thanks to the redesigns, the entry-level NC model, the @workStation Basic, has a 30 percent higher performance level than the version it is replacing, at a cost of 99 for 8 megabytes of RAM. The @workStation Prima has been reduced from 99 to 99. The @workStation Supra-66 has been reduced from ,299 to ,099. Any @workStation models with 21-inch, high-resolution monitors have been reduced by up to 00.

Back to headlines

Network Computing magazine reports Java performance on NCs was lacking when compared to Java on Pentium desktops. Their reason: Navigator includes a just-in-time (JIT) compiler that improves applet performance by dynamically compiling the Java bytecode into native code for the machine you are running on. Many NCs employ general-purpose processors. The fix: In the future, Java-based NCs are expected to start using Java processors that’ll run Java code natively, outstripping the performance of today’s JIT compiler-optimized chips.

Back to headlines

Real Time Integration delivers the NetAcquire Java Toolkit, a dev kit that allows Java applets to acquire, process, and update real-time analog and digital data over an Ethernet network, communicating with NetAcquire server hardware that contains analog-to-digital conversion hardware.

NetAcquire is an intelligent data-acquisition system that extends the cross-platform architecture of Java “write once, run anywhere” systems by adding hardware I/O capabilities. “Using the RTI Java Toolkit dramatically reduced the development time of our satellite test system — nothing else offered a cross-platform user interface to real-world signals,” reported Thomas Leisgang, project manager at Space Systems/Loral.

The NetAcquire Java Toolkit contains Java classes that provide stream-based communications with one or more NetAcquire servers. These classes handle all the low-level details of network I/O, flow control, and error handling. Complete distributed NetAcquire applications can be created with fewer than 50 lines of Java code. The bytecode files for completed applets can be uploaded to the NetAcquire integrated Web server, making applets immediately available across the enterprise. Access control is also available using configurable password protection. The Java Toolkit also provides sample applications and applets including real-time data charting.

The NetAcquire Java Toolkit supports Netscape Navigator 3.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, and Sun Microsystems JDK 1.0.2. It is priced at 95. NetAcquire data acquisition and control hardware is priced at ,495.

https://www.realtimeint.com/java.htm

Back to headlines

This summer, the Java Development Kit will get an upgrade and performance tune-up. The JDK 1.2 will include a new security model that will enable Java applets to be executed outside the Java secure runtime environment. How? JavaSoft will add a flexible control scheme that will give users control over where a Java applet can run, depending on how the application is digitally signed. Still, a Java applet will have only limited access to system resources.

Also included in the tune-up will be a beta version of the JDK that features HotSpot (acquired from Anamorphic Inc.), a tuner that can speed up Java applications to a level near their C++ counterparts. Also look for the Java Application Foundation Classes to be included in the JDK, but not until fall ’97.

Back to headlines

Lotus is updating its NotesPump server to offer support for Java and NotesPump API Java classes. NotesPump 2.1, now in beta testing, features real-time support for exchanging data between Notes databases, archiving features and links for Microsoft’s SQL Server, Novell’s Novell Directory Services, and the Notes Name and Address Book. NotesPump, a server that exchanges data between Notes and a range of relational databases, runs on AIX and Solaris on X86- and SPARC-based systems.

https://www.edge.lotus.com/

Back to headlines

AllPen Software will incorporate Java technology into its NetHopper mobile/embedded Web browser — the built-in browser on Apple’s MessagePad 2000, a StrongArm Internet-enabled device, and eMate 300, Apple’s new mobile computer for education.

“AllPen has shown strong commitment to Java,” said Dr. Lew Tucker, director of Corporate and ISV Relations at JavaSoft, “first with its NetHopper Enterprise Server, which is written entirely in Java and demonstrated at JavaOne, and now with their pledge to add Java support to their NetHopper Browser.”

Wayne Yurtin, co-founder of AllPen, replied, “We are anxious to provide our users with features, especially Java, that can enable both our customers as well as our licensees with a more feature rich Internet experience on their devices.”

https://www.AllPen.com/

Back to headlines

Seven high-tech companies recently joined The Open Group to move the network computer concept closer to a set of standards. Netscape, Navio Communications, Apple, IBM, Sun, Oracle, and Network Computer Inc. joined The Open Group to strengthen the Network Computer Reference Profile, one set of guidelines for building NCs. Microsoft is also working with The Open Group to convert portions of ActiveX for a recognized standard.

Don’t expect to see any results soon, though. The Open Group has not yet submitted the NC Reference Profile to any standards body, though a spokesperson says there are plans to submit the profile for standards approval, with news on the effort coming this summer.

Back to headlines

RSA Data Security is preparing a new version of its popular BSafe toolkit for Java. JSafe lets developers build public/private encryption key and other security technologies into Java applications and applets. It should ship in the second quarter of ’97. Users welcomed the extra security layer, if for nothing else, for its ability to let Java applets out of the Java runtime environment.

“The Java sandbox is only one part of overall security, so this will be a major help in adding overall security capabilities, such as digital signatures, to a Java applet,” said Jim Franklin, an independent Java consultant. “By having the RSA technology there, the building of secure Java transaction and commerce applications will be a lot easier.”

JSafe rests beneath the Java Crypto API. Developers write to the Java Crypto API and specify that the application use the JSafe cryptographic engine. It incorporates RC2, RC4, and RC5 secret key cyphers, MD-5 and SHA-1 message digests, and hash algorithms for creating digital signatures. JSafe also supports digital certificate management and messaging standards such as the PCKS#7 message format and X.509 digital certificate parsing techniques.

RSA intends to launch several apps based on JSafe, including an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Java application and a Java wallet for electronic commerce.

The JSafe toolkit will be sold to ISVs and third-party developers with licensing terms similar to those used for the BSafe toolkit. ISVs will also have the option of buying out all future royalties for approximately 00,000.

http: //www.rsa.com/rsa/PRODUCTS/sscat_winter96/97wor/index.html

Original story: https://www.pcweek.com/news/0421/23arsa.html

Back to headlines

Australian start-up The Object Factory has developed a technology that it claims will allow programmers to write code in any programming language and then compile it in any other language and run it on any platform. The software development environment is called the Object Resource and Automation Center (ORAC), which consists of a development tool called the Genetic Object Socket Technology (GOST) and a Universal Virtual Machine (UVM). It is similar to the Inter-Language Unification (ILU) project at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

“The difference between our Universal Virtual Machine and the Java Virtual Machine or the Smalltalk Virtual Machine is that we do not have to compile down to the traditional bytecode,” said Object Factory CEO James Ladd. “The UVM compiles to a format called the GOST Messaging Stream, so instead of the instructions being sent to a virtual machine, they are sent directly to the software object concerned.”

High-tech consulting firm Information Technology Resource has been evaluating ORAC for use in a telecommunications network management application. “Theoretically, the Object Factory’s technology is sound,” said John Veitch, ITR consultant. “Ideally for the telecommunications area, we would like something with Java-like and CORBA-like object-oriented functionality, and that is what ORAC can offer us.”

Ladd believes the Object Factory’s approach is faster and simpler than Java or Smalltalk, more secure, and dynamically upgradable and scalable. Plus, it has the added advantage of allowing developers to take a look at programs in languages they don’t understand. “If you don’t understand a programming language such as Smalltalk or C++, with GOST you can view it in … C or Java,” Ladd said.

The company hopes to finish development on ORAC, GOST, and the UVM by the end of 1997. Pricing has not yet been decided.

No information on site at press time: https://www.objectfactory.com/

Original story: /cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?970424.wobject.htm