News and New Product Briefs (10/15/97)

GemStone’s server a gathering place for Java objects

GemStone Systems recently demonstrated its GemStone/J Server, an application server designed to store millions of Java objects in distributed applications instead of hustling the components out to the client machines.

In beta tests since June 1997, the GemStone/J Server, with a few extensions to the JavaBean component definition (allowing multi-user Beans to rest in an application server, certifying that multiple VMs can access the same object space), implements the standard CORBA and Internet InterORB protocols to link to legacy systems and thin clients. GemStone officials add that maintaining the components on a shared server makes the entire environment more scalable. And you can get the server pre-integrated with Visigenic’s VisiBroker for Java CORBA 2.0 Object Request Broker.

GemStone/J goes on sale in October 1997 for ,995 per developer seat (Solaris and NT). The company is offering a Pilot Package of three developer seats, start-up assistance, and a year of maintenance for ,995. The integrated version (with VisiBroker for Java) costs 2,995.

• https://www.gemstone.com/

SourceAgain, a Java decompiler from Ahpah Software

Ahpah Software debuts SourceAgain, a Java decompiler that uses flow analysis techniques to convert Java class files back into equivalent, re-compilable Java source code, with no help from the developer.

SourceAgain can reconstruct all language constructs to produce re-compilable code, regardless of the original source compiler and optimization settings. SourceAgain uses a system of detailed flow analysis instead of the classic simple pattern matching. The software also reverses obfuscations made to the class file, as well as intelligently renames mangled symbols. SourceAgain runs natively on target platforms, providing more than 1,000 lines of source code per second on a 200MHz Pentium. Some basic uses: Getting a jump when you need to debug interactions with third-party software and checking the security of applets you may not quite trust.

Ahpah Software has released a Web-based version that allows a user to decompile any publicly available Java class file.

SourceAgain pricing starts at 49 (for the Windows 95/NT command-line version). Unix versions also are available.

• https://www.ahpah.com/products.html

Uniden develops low-cost network computer

On September 23, Uniden debuted its NC1-1000 at the Oracle OpenWorld show in Los Angeles,

The NC1-1000 (in a mini-tower configuration) comes standard with a 133MHz Cyrix Gx microprocessor and 32 megabytes of memory, and can be connected to LANs, public lines, or wireless networks.

Uniden’s resellers/distribution partners will determine the unit cost pricing.

ComBase is the smart card telephone kiosk system from NTT

With Nippon Telegraph and Telephone’s ComBase multimedia kiosk, users can not only phone home — they can also send and receive e-mail and digital pictures, just by plugging in their smart cards.

The ComBase terminal supports fast ISDN, and will replace the existing pink telephones in Japan’s public areas and business common areas. ISPs under contract to NTT will issue the IC smart cards that contain the users e-mail addresses and passwords. The user just plugs his/her card into the slot and any new messages for them appears on the screen. And by choosing from a set list of phrases, users can also send e-mail messages.

ComBase also supports IrTran-P, an infrared system for wireless transmission of digital still images, developed by Sony, NTT, and other firms, so users can send and receive images from digital cameras.

Starting in April 1998, NTT plans to install more than 100,000 terminals each year. Initially, NTT plans to offer ComBase for about 28, to hook users and hopefully speed up ISDN adoption.

Bitstream offers JET, a Java-based font system

Bitstream announced JET (Java-based Extendible Type), a new font engine written in Java, a remote font imaging tool, and a font manufacturing system for resellers.

The object-oriented JET engine provides font scaling for Java applets, applications, and information appliances, allowing Java-based programs to display any font in any language and character set without the use of extension APIs.

Bitstream is also showing off TrueDoc XT, a remote font imaging tool for QuarkXPress. TrueDoc XT lets users share Quark documents between imaging and authoring areas without losing fonts that aren’t installed on all systems.

And one last offering: Bitstream’s Manufacturing System allows resellers to manufacture custom font packages for their customers by using a 1,200-design-plus typeface library.

The JET beta version should be out by the middle of October 1997; its official ship date is for some time in the first quarter of ’98.

• https://www.bitstream.com/

NewMonics develops small Java RTOS

NewMonics has developed picoPerc, a small footprint, Java RTOS that is not licensed from Sun and only requires 64KB of RAM or ROM to run. (Embedded Java requires about 512KB to operate.)

PicoPerc uses NewMonics’ ROMizer, a real-time compiler designed to speed up the operating system to C++ levels. The Java RTOS also saves memory by excluding unnecessary functionality and by using explicit memory management rather than garbage collection to automatically remove unwanted objects.

• https://www.newmonics.com/

NSI Com launches Java software co-processor

NSI Com has launched a Java software co-processor, the Java Software Co-Processor (JSCP), designed specifically as a bridge between EmbeddedJava and embedded devices.

JSCP acts like an additional operating system on the CPU; it performs such tasks such as multi-threading, program scheduling, and communications management. It also implements EmbeddedJava on data communications devices, PDAs, and telecommunication devices.

A password is required to enter NSI Com’s Web site.

McAfee adds Java filters and “bad word” patrol

McAfee is introducing a new feature for WebShieldX, its security server software, that detects and blocks bad Java applets and ActiveX (or should we say, D-N-A) controls. Also, the company is adding a capability that allows companies to scan their employees outgoing mail and stop it if they find phrases the company considers “banned.” WebShieldX is the server product that complements the desktop version, WebScanX.

The new filter feature allows selective scanning and blocking for known rogue applets, but it also allows the administrator to exclude specific classes of applets. With it, the administrator can also decide where on the network (depending on configuration) to deploy the blocking techniques. For instance, for an NCnet or other highly centralized network, it makes sense to do all your blocking at the server, but if the network is supporting lots of nomadic or remote devices, it would take a combo of the server version and desktop versions of the product.

The Java applet component will be available by the end of 1997 as a free add-on for WebShield LX, WebShieldX Proxy for Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0, and WebShieldX for Firewalls on Solaris (for firewalls that support content vectoring). The e-mail filter should ship by the end of 1997 for the above mentioned servers, plus WebShieldX SMTP.

Existing customers get the new features free. For new customers, the cost comes in at about 2 per user for 1,000 users.

• https://www.mcafee.com/

Don’t miss “Developer Kitchen” event for JavaBeans

Sun Microsystems and Phoenix Technologies have combined forces to present the JavaBeans Developer Kitchen, where new Java cooks can learn to write JavaBeans design-time classes, bridge existing technologies with JavaBeans, and discover the latest supporting technologies, such as Enterprise JavaBeans.

New chefs can also learn about the Java Foundation Classes, and be informed on future component technologies such as InfoBus and Glasgow.

Plus, meet with leading tool vendors to get the inside line on support components and receive a free copy of IBM’s VisualAge for Java (and other product giveaways).

The dates and cities are:

• November 3, 4 — Denver
• November 6, 7 — Seattle
• November 10, 11 — Santa Clara
• November 12, 13 — Los Angeles
• November 17, 18 — Boston
• November 24, 25 — Ottawa

The two-day event costs 95 per person.

• https://www.phoenixtech.com/

• Or, send contact information to TheChef@phoenixtech.com

OrbixWise partner program tops 300 members

Iona Technologies OrbixWise partner program has signed up more than 300 members. The program, started in 1996, provides system integrators, ISVs, resellers, and consultants with help to get the most out of Orbix, Iona’s object middleware.

New additions to the program include:

• re-classification of partner categories to better reflect each partner’s business
• Iona assistance in co-marketing activities and pre-sales support
• beefed-up training services
• individual account managers for members
• increased product support for pre-released products

• https://www.iona.com/OrbixWise/

Edge Technologies and Micromuse combine Java management tools

Mix Edge Technologies’s N-Vision Java console (HP OpenView-compatible) and Micromuse’s Netcool/Java EventList management app and you’ve got what the two companies intended — a system that allows customers to access management information from anywhere in an enterprise using Web browsers.

The companies started the mix to make it easier for HP OpenView integrators and network managers to implement the complementary software packages in tandem. Using browsers, customers can easily launch a Netcool/Java EventList (JEL) from the Java-based N-Vision topology map, or vice-versa.

N-Vision offers a Java network management console (used with HP OpenView) that has a Java front end and topology mapping utility that accesses topology information stored in the OpenView database. With N-Vision, network managers get access to an OpenView console with the same look as the Unix- or Windows-based OpenView versions.

The Netcool/JEL uses passive software probes to collect network events from a wide variety of management environments. Then JEL distributes color-coded views (output from the Netcool/Omnibus ObjectServer memory-resident SQL data repository) of networked services to operators who monitor service levels.

When combined, the topology displays and Java EventLists are updated in real time, giving managers a collaborative network management environment.

The products are client/server applications that also run on the Solaris and HP-UX platforms.

• Edge Technologies: https://www.edge-technologies.com/

• Micromuse: https://www.netcool.com/

Four Seasons mutates into SuperNova and spawns new middleware

Four Seasons Software has become SuperNova (the name of its app development environment), and will introduce a middleware product, Visual Concepts, that gives users drag-and-drop connectivity between applications written in different programming languages.

Although Java is a part of Visual Concepts, SuperNova officials commented that a company may be using many different applications, from different decades, that could be written in Fortran, COBOL, VisualBasic, C, C++, and Java. It is unrealistic to think that all companies could invest in the cost of rewriting all their applications in Java.

Visual Concepts offers a graphical environment so users can simply click to link applications written in different programming languages, that comply with various standards. Visual Concepts will run on 40 platforms and support more than 20 databases. The object environment uses wrapper technology to adapt legacy language applications.

Visual Concepts is due to ship near the end of October 1997.

• https://www.supernova.com/

Survey says: Java will be widely adopted despite early difficulties

In a recent survey by Borland International, more than 5,000 top software developers indicate that they think Java will be widely adopted and used for enterprise business computing environments in the near future. And it doesn’t matter what platforms or computing schemes prevail.

The survey also found that the two top perceived barriers to Java adoption have been the lack of reliable development tools (25 percent) and the performance of applications (31 percent), both of which are first-generation problems. Other hurdles to acceptance were the lack of consistent virtual machines, the absence of true platform independence, and practically no database connectivity.

Other findings:

• 95 percent said that they intend to use Java to build new applications or integrate new applications with existing systems.
• 48 percent plan to use Java to develop client/server applications.
• 38 percent plan to build enterprise multitier systems.
• 80 percent plan to build applications that access corporate databases.
• 61 percent cite platform independence as the number one benefit.
• Most haven’t committed to a specific devtool.
• 54 percent are evaluating all tools.
• 37 percent are currently using a Java tool, but are evaluating new tools.
• 8 percent are committed to a specific development tool.

Plus, developers want: tools built to the latest technical standards — ones that have been tested and qualify as 100 percent pure Java, platform-independent applications; pure Java visual development; complete JDBC database connectivity; robust JavaBean component library; and easy-to-create and -share JavaBeans components.

One important finding: Developers do not see Java in the context of platform wars. Developers want Java to move to the next phase, and to do that, they see the need for industrial strength development tools and better standards.

Borland’s DataGateway gives pure Java access to slew of DBs

Borland International debuts DataGateway for Java, a database connectivity middleware product that gives clients Java access to corporate databases through industry-standard JDBC interfaces.

DataGateway is designed for high-performance JDBC database access using native drivers on Oracle, Sybase, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Informix, InterBase, Paradox, dBASE, Microsoft FoxPro, and Microsoft Access. It also delivers additional connectivity through standard ODBC drivers. The client driver runs on all Java VMs that support JDK 1.1. The server supports Windows NT and 95.

DataGateway comes with a fully downloadable thin-client that requires no separate installation or configuration. It supports JDBC-compliant devtools, including JBuilder, VisualAge for Java, Visual Caf, and Visual J++.

DataGateway will be available by the end of October 1997 as a standalone component and in Borland’s JBuilder Client/Server suite. It will cost ,499. A free preview developer version is now available at the company’s Web site.

• https://www.borland.com/datagateway/

Update: IBM Javatizes its cryptolope technology

IBM has created a Java-enabled edition of its cryptolope technology, Cryptolope Live.

Cryptolope Live will include a runtime environment with a built-in Java browser and other class libraries, plus a JAR file with built-in JavaScripts that will execute like Java applets.

Cryptolope Live provides the basic components for securing, managing, delivering, tracking, and selling digital content in a Java environment across intranets, extranets, and the Internet. Cryptolope Live addresses the management of content access, focusing on how information is distributed, protected, accessed, and used.

• https://www.cryptolope.ibm.com/frontpage.htm

Latest release of Java Electronic Commerce Framework is available

The latest release of the Java Electronic Commerce Framework (JECF, alpha 0.5) is available on the JavaSoft home page.

Currently, the application provides the know-how and technology to show developers how Java will enable online transactions. The JECF consists of the Java Commerce APIs that make it easier for developers to deploy electronic commerce applications in such forms as home banking or electronic malls. The APIs can also be used to build cassettes, which let developers deploy new protocols on the user desktop or Java Wallet; and, the APIs can be used on the server to implement Java links into merchant or commerce servers. JECF supports the Java Wallet, which comes configured with three payment protocols: Secure Electronic Transactions, Mondex, and CyberCash Cybercoin.

The Java Commerce APIs require the Java Development Kit 1.1 but are not specifically a part of the JDK package. The APIs support the Java Card API.

• https://java.sun.com/products/commerce

Update: Seagate Crystal Reports gets some Java

Seagate Software’s Crystal Reports 6.0 now includes Java and ActiveX applets so users can view and manipulate reports using Web browsers. It also has enhanced developer features to help the creation of Web applications.

Crystal Reports 6.0 has Smart Viewers, thin client Java and ActiveX applets that do away with the need for IS managers to download additional drivers to each client. Version 6.0 lets users design and distribute reports that access data from relational and multidimensional databases, such as Arbor Software’s Essbase, Informix, Oracle’s Oracle8, Symantec’s ACT 3.0, and IBM’s DB2 databases. It also includes Crystal Automation Server, which supports more than 500 API commands. And the new VisualBasic support lets developers write custom formulas and functions with Visual Basic, Visual J ++, Visual C++, and Delphi, as well as the traditional C/C++.

Crystal Reports 6.0 costs 95 (but current users may upgrade to for 99). It runs on Windows 3.x, 95, and NT. It caches reports on Netscape or Microsoft Web servers.

• https://www.seagatesoftware.com/crystalreports/

Australia uses Java to issue driver’s licenses

The New South Wales (NSW) Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) is deploying a very large Java network to issue drivers’ licenses and to track motor registrations. It is the latest version of the RTA’s DRIVES system, which follows 4 million autos and drivers.

The RTA purchased 896 Sun NCs (for almost .5m) to install in motor vehicle registries throughout the state. Between 2 and 25 JavaStations are clustered in the RTA’s 131 offices. They are connected with 165 SPARC 5 servers by a frame-relay network, which are in turn connected to a Sun E6000 macro-server running a 100GB Oracle database in the main data center. A second E6000 mirrors the first, as a back-up.

RTA Project Manager John Menyhart and his supervisor, GM Michael McMullan, agreed that they moved the system to Java and NCs (after an exhaustive evaluation of alternatives) to snag the lower cost/easier management benefits. Plus, they figured it would be easier to protect the privacy of drivers and owners.

This follows the government of New South Wales’ plans to provide access to state services and information via the Internet.

Sun posts JDK 1.1.4, JavaBeans dev kit and bridge, and HotJava HTML component

JavaSoft has posted an updated release of the JDK (version 1.1.4), JavaBeans Development Kit, JavaBeans Bridge for ActiveX, and a HotJava HTML component.

The JDK 1.1.4 is a bug-fix version, with a preview of the Win32 Performance Pack featuring a JIT compiler. An early-access Solaris Native Threads Pack is also available.

The Beans Development Kit (BDK 1.0) is also available. The BDK supports the early development of JavaBeans components and acts as a standard reference base for both component developers and tool vendors. The BDK 1.0 comes with a reference Bean container, the BeanBox, and reusable samples of source code for JavaBeans component and tool developers. The BDK is not a full-fledged app development environment.

The JavaBeans Bridge for ActiveX gives users of legacy OLE/COM/ActiveX containers (such as Word or Visual Basic) the ability to embed and use portable JavaBeans components in the same way they would platform-specific OLE/COM/ActiveX components.

The HotJava HTML JavaBeans component parses and renders HTML. OEMs can use the HotJava HTML component with custom user interfaces to provide Web access for a wide range of devices. Application developers can embed the component in applications.

• Upgrade: https://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/index.html
• BDK 1.0: https://www.javasoft.com/beans/bdk_download.html
• Bridge: https://www.javasoft.com/beans/bridge/

• HotJava: https://www.javasoft.com/products/hotjava/bean/index.html

Instantiations says it’ll speed Java up by ten

Instantiations Inc. announced that it will develop technology to make Java applications to run at least 10 times faster than currently possible.

Instantiations, (which has received million from Scalability Solutions) plans to develop new Java VM technology, similar to compilers that run on virtual machines. Instantiations has previously developed highly optimized virtual machines for Smalltalk.

Company spokesman Mike Taylor said it will develop the VM for the Windows/Intel platform first (by the second quarter of ’98), then branch out to other operating systems.

No further information as available at press time.

Sun Internet Mail Server 3.1 debuts at NetWorld+Interop

Sun debuts its latest Internet Mail Server 3.1 (SIMS 3.1), an Internet messaging server that has been optimized for the enterprise and ISP environments with improved scalability and reliability features.

SIMS 3.1 has also added multithreading, a new message store, and a new message transfer agent. The messaging server upgrade comes bundled with an Lightweight Directory Access Protocol directory. The server supports POP3, IMAP4.1, Extended SMTP, MIME, and LDAP.

The server has a Java-based administration tool so administrators can manage remote systems easily. It also supports Sun’s bundled Directory Services 1.0, which allows users to access information through a Web browser. Sun intends to offer (by the end of 1997) software to connect and migrate users to the server from cc:Mail, MS Mail, and PROFS (IBM).

The upgrade should put SIMS in a position to compete directly against enterprise- and ISP-class Internet mail servers from Netscape and Software.com.

SIMS 3.1 costs ,495 for the departmental version and ,495 for the enterprise version (each with 100 mailboxes). Check Sun’s site for more information as it is available.

Update: Poet ships upgrade to Object Server suite

Poet Software is shipping an upgrade to its Object Server suite so users and developers can more easily bridge relational and object-oriented database environments.

Object Server 5.0 comes with a database server, development tools to deploy Web applications, and a Java SDK. The fifth-generation object-oriented database supports parallel transactions, so the server can handle handle multiple transactions or queries simultaneously. The DB works in Windows 95 and NT, Solaris, and HP-UX, and can supports Java, C++, and Visual Basic.

Object Server 5.0 has a new tool called the SQL Object Factory, which acts as a gateway between object-oriented applications and relational databases. With it, developers can create an application using an OO language without having to rewrite it for a relational database. This feature works with Oracle., IBM, and Microsoft databases.

It also comes with the Web Factory, which connects a database to an Internet Server API or to a Netscape Server API Web server to download the most up-to-date information. This database works with Verity’s Search Engine so users can write text search calls for database programs. The Verity component is an optional plug-in.

The new Java SDK supports the ODMG (Object Database Management Group) 2.0 Java binding specification.

Object Server 5.0 for NT costs ,000. The SDK costs ,500. The SQL Object Factory starts at 0,000. The Web Factory starts at ,500.

• https://www.poet.com/products.htm

GeoWorks incorporates PersonalJava for smart phones

GeoWorks has expanded its Java license with Sun to incorporate PersonalJava into its wireless, smart-phone optimized operating system.

Smart phones have integrated communication capabilities and special power, display, and memory requirements. GeoWorks has specialized in adapting applications and OS to these limited-resource, communications-intensive requirements.

By integrating PersonalJava into its OS, GeoWorks is making it easy for third-party developers to create smart-phone applications, since they could develop apps without having to learn the specialized operating system code (or a new development environment). And, with PersonalJava onboard, users can activate Java applets anywhere on the Web.

Rob Hayes, Java product manager at GeoWorks, said, “Being able to utilize Java as a widely used development environment is going to be critical for the mobile communications market. To ensure corporations and mobile users are able to enjoy the power and leveragability of Java tools and applications, we are working with Sun to efficiently implement Java applications for smart phones and other mobile devices.”

NCI NCs to carry Star Division’s office suite

Network Computer Inc. announces that it will bundle Star Division’s office application suite with its network computers, starting in November 1997. Terms were not disclosed.

Star Division’s StarOffice package comes with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics applications. The software suite can open and edit files created with Word and Excel, and one copy of StarOffice can be used simultaneously by several users.

Star Division is the second-largest business software supplier in Germany, with more than 1 million copies of its software shipped in 1996. Star Division has plans to create a US holding company and go public in Q1 98.

Finjan ships SurfinCheck for 00

Finjan is shipping the NT version of SurfinCheck, a security engine designed for small and mid-sized businesses (or a LAN segment), for 95.

SurfinCheck scans Java applets at an company’s network Internet gateway so it can detect damaging behavior before the bad applet gets into your enterprise. Users don’t need system administration experience, Unix expertise, or special installation and setup — SurfinCheck gives companies an instant, inexpensive layer of Java/ActiveX security.

SurfinCheck offers:

• Java security management at the gateway.
• ActiveX security management at the gateway.
• Java class scan at the gateway.
• ActiveX control blocking at the gateway.
• Enterprise-wide enforcement of security policy.
• NT administration.

• https://www.finjan.com/products/html/surfincheck.html

Quadbase releases CyberChart

Quadbase Systems is releasing CyberChart, a an interactive WYSIWYG Web tool to produce Web-ready charts using a Java-enabled Web browser.

With CyberChart, users can design charts by running the Designer Java applet in their Web browser. Chart data can be generated directly from databases. The charts can be saved in two interactive formats, as well as in standard formats such as GIF and BMP. Viewers can query data points, and navigate around the chart in real time. CyberChart has a template format that allows users to dynamically update Web pages.

CyberChart comes with a Chart Designer component that is written in Java and runs as a browser applet. It has a simple point-and-click, wizard-based interface. The module supports a large set of chart types in both two and three dimensions. The Chart Viewer applet allows real-time manipulation of colors, fonts, data sets, scales, rotation, and animation.

CyberChart runs on 95, NT, and Solaris, can be accessed from any Java browser, and supports such databases as Oracle, DB2, Informix, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server. Demo versions of the software are available for download from Quadbase’s Web site.

• https://www.quadbase.com/cyberchart/index.html

DynaBase gets a Java client

Inso Corp. is adding a Java-based client to DynaBase, its Web publishing and management application.

The DynaBase Dynamic Web Publishing System 3.0 will have a Java client for Macintosh and Unix platforms. The DynaBase Web Manager Client acts as an interface for the Data Server, a repository for Web site components. The Web Manager also can operate locally or remotely across the Internet, allowing site contributors to access content from the Data Server and automatically launch an authoring tool.

DynaBase 3.0 should be ready in the fourth quarter of this year, running on Netscape’s Enterprise and FastTrack servers (NT 3.51, 4.0 and Solaris 2.5) and Microsoft’s Internet Information server (NT 4.0). An average enterprise installation will run 7,000. Inso is also selling a Workgroup version for ,995 (licensed for three clients and one data server) and a Personal Server version for ,995.

• https://www.inso.com/frames/consumer/db/index.htm

VeriFone and Home Account Network agree on Java smart cards

VeriFone Inc. has announced that it will partner with Home Account Network Inc. (HAN) to let financial institutions offer customers Java-based smart card services so they can access financial services and bank accounts over the Internet.

This wired banking one-two punch consists of VeriFone’s VeriSmart smart card technology and HAN’s Java-based home banking software. The companies intend to offer this combo to financial institutions that want to offer customers online financial transactions. The smart cards would provide customer authentication from network computers or smart mobile phones. And the Java-based banking software delivers widespread compatibility and highlights Java’s over-the-Net attributes.

Currently, the software supports personal financial information access, bill presentation and payment, investment portfolio management, and mortgage transactions. The companies intend to expand the services to allow users to download cash and transfer funds by early in 1998.

VeriFone will be the point company — it will license and distribute Home Account Network’s software along with VeriSmart to financial institutions.

Citrix’s ICA client comes in a Java version

Citrix Systems introduced a Java version of its ICA client at the recent NetWorld+Interop. ICA means Independent Computing Architecture, a WinFrame-based protocol similar to X11. WinFrame is Citrix’s application that allows users to access Windows applications from a server.

The new Java client should enable computers running the Java VM to use Windows applications that are running on a remote server. Speculation is that Citrix is expanding its potential client base with the introduction of the Java client, since the primary user of its ICA technology, Microsoft, is planning to introduce its own distributed application system (Hydra) as an add-on in NT 4.0 and fully integrated into NT 5.0.

The Citrix Java client is expected sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

Marimba’s Castanet 2.0 gets new security and control features

Marimba’s new release of Castanet, version 2.0, has new security and administration control features.

Castanet 2.0 adds to its features:

• The Secure Transmitter Server, a server that uses SSL encryption to secure the data that flows between the Transmitter Server and the Tuner Client. It can also be authenticated by subscribers, so they can identify the Transmitter hostname.

• Trusted Channels, so channel developers can digitally sign a channel. Then subscribers can identify the developer.

• Access Control, so administrators can require a Tuner Client user to provide a username and password (imported from a LDAP server) before a Transmitter Server listing is displayed.

• The Tuner Client Administrator, so administrators can customize a self-updating Tuner Client that updates from a pre-specified location.

• Startup Channels, so administrators can specify the channel that starts upon Tuner Client launch.

Castanet 2.0 starts at 95 and should be available Q4 97. For an upgrade, you have to already own the Castanet Transmitter Server.

CyberCAT Java Catalog: If you need a Java-based catalog, go here

Betacorp’s CyberCAT Java Catalog is a Java applet used to deploy Internet catalog and product information — with no programming necessary.

With CyberCAT Java Catalog, just add your product information, images, advertisements, and user interface graphics to the application and the software sorts it out for you.

Some of the key features of the software are:

• Client and client/server versions available.
• Supports for JDBC/ODBC/SQL databases, and you can browse the database using Boolean methods.
• 3D GUI gives you point-and-click catalog browsing, product drag and drop, and multiple image views.
• Interactive ad banners, streaming video, and Web page hot links.
• Shopping cart support, secured transaction processing, and support for multiple languages.
• Doesn’t require use of cookies.

The Client/Server 3.0 version costs ,995. It supports SQL/JDBC/ODBC databases, runs on Windows NT, and has no upper limit to the number of products you can support in a catalog. The Client-Side 3.0 version costs 95 (support for 200 products), 95 (500 products), and 95 (for 1,000 products).

Check out the CyberCAT Java Catalog on the company’s site.

• https://www.betacorp.com/java/web/cycat/cyberdemo.htm

How much for Java developer tools?

An upcoming study by Zona Research asserts that of the billion spent this year on development tools (that number belongs to Dataquest), 8 million of that was for tools that create and build programs and products in Java. That total doesn’t include products that are used to support or extend Java.

Another report by research company Netroscope noted that the markets that are adopting and deploying Java (financial services, telecommunications, education, and manufacturing) have so far only planned to implement Java in about 10 percent of each company’s enterprise-wide system. (The healthcare, government, and construction industries are also adopting Java, but at a slower rate.)

The reasons for slow adoption are the same ones we’ve seen in other studies: Few Java business-oriented applications, lack of standards, and possible fragmentation of the language.

Innotech offers API SDK to integrate NetResults

Innotech is offering an Application Programmer Interface software development kit that lets developers to integrate Innotech’s NetResults 1.2 Java search engine into applications without having to externally customize either NetResults or the application.

“A number of software companies have approached Innotech to license NetResults under an API arrangement. We are now in a position to offer a kit that is essentially a plug-in apparatus to our software. Innotech will, however, continue custom interface work on a very select basis,” said CTO Simon Arnison.

If you are a NetResults licensee, you can now purchase the API kit. See the Innotech/NetResults site for more information.

• https://www.netresults-search.com/

Java class disassembler shareware now available

Software designer Geoff Friesen has written a Java Class Disassembler that disassembles class files. The JCD, which comes in a .ZIP file containing an .EXE and .HLP file, is a 32-bit Windows GUI-based program that lets developers disassemble Java 1.0.x and 1.1.x class files.

You can download a full version of the shareware at the following site.

• https://www.GateWest.net/~geoff/java/java.html

Chase Manhattan and Citicorp test smart cards

On October 6, Chase Manhattan and Citicorp (and the Visa and MasterCard groups) started a test to determine whether consumers and merchants are ready to turn in their cash for a credit-card sized smart card.

Citicorp’s Citibank will issue Visa Cash cards to its customers, and Chase Manhattan will issue the Mondex electronic cash product (under MasterCard auspices) to its customers. The goal (according to the testers): To demonstrate that Visa Cash and Mondex can be used interchangeably through one terminal (and software).

One problem they’ve had to overcome is circuitous in nature — merchants didn’t want to play because not enough customers had the cards, and, you guessed it, individuals didn’t want the cards because there wasn’t enough places to use them.

So far, the backers have enlisted about 675 merchants. The banks intend to distribute 25,000 cards to customers, all around the Upper West Side (west of Central Park between W. 60th and W. 96th).

Nationwide paging service uses Java to join billing/management systems

Arch Communications Group, a nationwide paging service, is using Java to tie together its business systems.

According to Dwayne Burberry, the Arch IS director, the company is adding a Web-based ordering and inventory-management front end to consolidate its disparate billing and customer management systems. Arch cobbled together its nationwide system by purchasing small local systems — a move that just about guarantees incompatible systems. He added that Java’s code portability, as well as the ability to rapidly create and deploy applications (because of the continuing in-flux of new customers), is the reason Arch decided on Java.

Burberry said, “We’re replacing 3,000 dumb terminals,” and that, as a language to support thin clients, Java “really works.”

• https://www.arch.com/

Java allows 401(k) access to customers

The Copeland Companies, the records keeper for Travelers Insurance’s, Smith Barney’s, and PFS’s million-plus customers, has added a customer-friendly Java front end so clients can access their 401(k) records from the Internet.

The records rest on an IBM AS/400 in an IBM DB2 database.

Win Cody, Copeland’s senior VP and CIO, said that customers can access their account balances and perform Java applet-based transactions. He added that the company may construct Java-based planning tools in the future, such as future-planning calculators.

Copeland decided on Java because it liked the way it runs in a distributed environment, its reusable code, and it liked the scalability of the language. Plus, it mirrors the company’s strategy to move to object technology, Cody said.

Chorus/Jazz is an RTOS Java

Chorus Systems is offering Chorus/Jazz, a Java-enabled real-time operating system that supports all the Java extensions and services, that allows developers to integrate Java applications into embedded systems.

Chorus/Jazz’s VM implements all standard JavaOS containers and classes, combining the features of Java with the Chorus/Classix real-time features. The OS concurrently executes Java apps while meeting its real-time requirements. Java threads can access Chorus microkernal interrupt handling, synchronization, and scheduling services, which keeps the RTOS and Java coordinated.

The combo gives developers a scalable OS that you can not only use to access existing legacy applications, but also provide infinitely reusable code.

You can install Chorus/Jazz on PowerPC 603/604, ARM 7500, Motorola 68k, and Intel Pentium platforms, with ports to SPARC and MIPS on the way. Runtime licenses depend on yearly volume, but development seats start at 1,000 each. The OS also supports HotJava and Java Views. For more pricing and purchasing information, check the Chorus site.

• https://www.chorus.com/