JAVATM 2 PLATFORM, ENTERPRISE EDITION The Brand for Enterprise Computing

by Janice J. Heiss and Mary Smaragdis

February 24, 2000 -- With the more than 100,000 downloads of the Java^TM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE^TM) since its December 1999 release, developers are test driving a complete development platform specifically architected to meet the needs of enterprise application development. The J2EE platform makes all Java enterprise APIs and functionality available and accessible in a well integrated fashion, simplifying complex problems in the development, deployment, and management of multi-tier server-centric enterprise solutions. As downloads continue to mount, J2EE technology is being used as the foundation for enterprise strategies that use information technology for business gain.

J2EE^TM Platform and Enterprise Computing Solutions

As the Internet and enterprise computing have taken off in the last decade, HTTP, HTML, and the Java platform have emerged as standards for client-based computing. This has resulted in the development of centralized business logic on the server, and the spread of ecommerce. On the server-side, myriad programming and connectivity models, like CGI, NSAPI, and ISAPI became prevalent, causing programming and maintenance nightmares.

More recently, application servers have enabled the aggregation of enterprise services on the back-end into a web-facing display. The application servers abstract some of the complexity of enterprise application programming by implementing middle-tier services. But the existence of more than 25 application servers on the market, each with product-specific programming models which lock the application builder into one specific product or platform, constitutes a major obstacle to innovation. Applications written to one server are locked into the server architecture, and unable to take advantage of fast-developing features and performance enhancements in the industry. To innovate, developers have been faced with the expensive proposition of creating an entirely new application model, which usually involves rewriting the application to a new server with the desired features and enhancements.

Branded for Compatibility and Interoperability

Such an industry-wide predicament calls for a solution: the creation of a single, unified platform for building enterprise applications that's cross-platform and interoperable with existing enterprise infrastructures. The predicament also calls for the existence of a brand to make it easy to identify products that fully implement this platform. The J2EE platform and the Java Compatible^TM Enterprise Edition Brand offer that solution. "J2EE technology enables faster solution delivery time to market for enterprise developers," comments Rick Saletta, Product Line Manager for J2EE technology. "The brand gives customer the assurance that the solution they deploy will fully implement J2EE technology and provide them with the flexibility, compatibility and interoperability they need to use their technology infrastructure for business gain."

The J2EE platform is a scalable platform that can adjust to volatility of Web traffic. It can connect to virtually any legacy database or solution and allows enterprise managers to develop and deploy best-of-breed solutions based on products and technologies from multiple companies.

"To ensure compatibility and interoperability it's critical to look for products with the Java Compatible Enterprise Edition Brand," says Saletta. "The brand means that vendors have passed all the compatibility tests and the product truly lives up to the promise of "Write Once, Run Anywhere^TM" on the server. It's been just over 60 days since we released the Compatibility Test Suite, and we're seeing a race amongst our vendors for who'll be first to ship a product branded Java Compatible Enterprise Edition. Stay tuned."

Java^TM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition: The Sum of its Parts

As a complete computing environment, a platform supplies many integral components. In sum, there are four major parts: Platform Specification, Reference Implementation, Compatibility Test Suite, and Sun BluePrints.

• The Platform Specification lists the required elements of the platform, plus the policies that must be followed for a valid J2EE technology implementation.

• The Reference Implementation is a prototype that provides a semantically correct instance of J2EE platform for vendors to test against.

• The Compatibility Test Suite is designed to make sure that different J2EE technology implementations will run the same applications.

• Sun BluePrints provide a set of patterns for designing and building multi-tier applications. "The BluePrints Design Guidelines are delivered as a complete web store implementation using J2EE technology," says Saletta. "You can take it and modify it to your liking and deploy the Pet Store, turning it into whatever kind of store you choose."

J2EE^TM Platform Supports XML

The J2EE platform fully supports and implements XML, an emerging web standard for data markup. This powerful combination brings cross-platform compatibility to XML, so that even the tools used to parse and debug XML code are platform independent.

"J2EE and XML technologies are the Yin and Yang of enterprise development. XML enables platform independent data. J2EE platform enables platform independent solutions -- and it supports XML completely," says Saletta.

XML's ability to represent data portably complements the portability of Java technology, and as a result the number of XML-oriented applications being written today in the Java programming language continues to mount. For more on the Java platform and XML see http://java.sun.com/xml/.

See Also

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Home Page
(http://java.sun.com/j2ee/)

J2EE Compatibility
(http://java.sun.com/j2ee/compatibility.html)

Sun Blueprints Design Guidelines for J2EE
(http://java.sun.com/j2ee/blueprints/)

Java Technology and XML
(http://java.sun.com/xml/)

Brand Demand: J2EE^TM Technology Passes the Test
(http://java.sun.com/features/2000/01/brand.demand.html)

[ This page was updated: 29-Feb-00 ]