Fast developing innovations in Java^TM technology are giving email the media richness currently found in Web pages. This article is the third in a series that looks at the changes in email today and into the future, and its impact on everything from family to corporate interactions.

by Janice J. Heiss

Email, thanks to Java^TM technology, is ready to make another leap forward. A new communications platform, called Zaplet, promises to save users time, energy, and space in email boxes by converting the email infrastructure into a smart, alive, and shared place.

Currently, email works well for one-on-one communication, but group collaboration using email can be tedious, time-consuming, and typically requires a string of separate interacting emails that are difficult to manage. The Zaplet Communications Platform, created by high-profile startup, FireDrop, addresses this problem by drawing on features of email, the Web, and instant messaging to make group collaboration in email more efficient. Zaplets transform email into a live, shared place where users can communicate, collaborate, and conduct commerce.

Zaplets: Email with Brains

Zaplet technology works with existing email platforms and helps to enable users to do everything they do on the Web within the context of their in-box. Zaplets are "smart" and can interact with the content of the message, such as tallying and displaying the current results of a group vote and updating it with each response. Zaplets have both a static and dynamic component. The static part consists of whatever the author includes in the introductory part of the Zaplet. When the recipient initially opens the Zaplet, they will see the static part. The dynamic part is served from a FireDrop application server using an HTTP connection, and refreshes each time something new is added to the Zaplet.

Zaplets run on virtually all commercial platforms, email programs and Web browsers, require no plug-ins or downloads, and offer a fully interactive experience with current generations of HTML- enabled email. For earlier generations of email systems, they offer a Web click-through for Zaplet access.

A Zaplet Example: Organizing a Meeting

Suppose you want to organize a meeting with ten co-workers. One person sends a Zaplet requesting times and places to the other nine, who receive and open them as Web pages in their in-box, requiring no downloading. The recipients then provide the requested information in the Zaplet, which becomes immediately available to everyone on the list. Whenever they reopen the Zaplet it is automatically updated by a central server, which picks up the latest information and issues it to the Zaplet before it is read. The Zaplet enables a meeting time and place to be arrived at with ease. Compare this with the tedium of coordinating responses to nine emails, and negotiating times through multiple separate interactions.

Or suppose a manager needs input from ten employees. The manager sends out a Zaplet, and instead of having to wade through ten emails, receives all their responses in one Zaplet that is constantly updated as the employees submit their responses. Instead of reviewing ten separate emails arriving at varying times, the manager has them all in one place, always in updated form.

The Sky's the Limit

Users can share photos and leave comments using Zaplet's "Pictures" feature (Click to enlarge)

Zaplets combine the best features of email, the Web, and instant messaging. "One problem with email is that it is current when it is sent, but it may not be current when it is read," explains Samir Mitra, general manager for e-business solutions at FireDrop. "Zaplets are constantly being updated with feedback from other recipients. Whenever the user opens the Zaplet, they see the most current version. Zaplets can be created to hold discussions, make decisions, plan events, take polls, manage projects, write stories, or share pictures - they can be used by individuals or organizations. And you can interact with them on email or the Web. The sky's the limit."

Java Technology - The Key to Zaplets

The name "Zaplet" came from the energy of "zapping" someone with a live message, combined with the power of lightweight applications arriving in someone's in-box. FireDrop makes extensive use of Java technology in their Zaplet platform. "The Zaplet architecture is based entirely on Java^TM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE^TM) interfaces and Java technology standards," explains Mala Chandra, vice president, platform engineering for FireDrop. "We use Java Database Connectivity (JDBC^TM) to access our Zaplet database, which substantially reduces database vendor dependencies without incurring a performance penalty. We encapsulate business logic using Enterprise JavaBeans^TM components (EJB^TM) and use Java Naming and Directory Interface^TM (JNDI) to integrate partner directory services. We use JavaMessage Service (JMS) to handle email and event services, which provides a standardized and reliable queuing interface."

Zaplet technology also relies heavily on JavaServer Pages^TM to provide a flexible way to handle dynamic HTML generation. Images are accessed using Java Advanced Imaging API. "When it comes down to the actual Zaplet assembly and services, we use Java servlets as a lightweight, scalable, and high performance vehicle for request processing," says Chandra.

When asked about security requirements, she points out that all user-entered data, including attachments, is monitored for executable content. "We're also implementing a role-based security framework based on X.509 certificates and Java CryptographyExtension (JCE)-compliant interfaces. Our architecture also allows us to enhance the security of content by offering Zaplets which disallow forwarding or self-destruct after viewing - something not possible with traditional email."

The Productivity Enhancements of Java Technology

In working with Enterprise JavaBeans components, Chandra was impressed by how much they enhance productivity. "Enterprise JavaBeans components allow a lot of developer productivity because you can now just write EJBs and deploy them in application servers - in our case BEA WebLogic," explains Chandra. "All we had to do was write these applications logic pieces, for example, security service or scheduling application, and we didn't have to worry about how we managed sessions. We didn't have to worry about transactions completing, or error recovery from transactions failures, or clustering, or other system details."

She also values Java technology's portability. "Because we are using EJBs and J2EE, we have not had porting headaches. `Write Once, Run Anywhere^TM' has really been true for us. We've worked with JRUN, with Enhydra, with BEA WebLogic, and porting across these environments is pretty simple. In the previous generation of these middleware products, you had to shift from one to another. It was cost prohibitive and pretty traumatic. We're also pushing the limits in how we're using JavaServer Pages."

And her overall impression of Java technology? "Overall, the productivity enhancements of Java technology are fabulous. It's remarkable how quickly we can bring things to market."

Zaplets in the Business Enterprise

Zaplets overcome a common business problem. Companies often encounter obstacles when they want their business applications to interact with suppliers, vendors, customers, and partners, since other companies commonly have a different information technology infrastructure, with different technologies and email clients. "It is very hard for a CIO or a MIS guy, or even a department manager to create a larger, and more encompassing envelope that will enable their business application to get forwarded on to outside parties," says Mitra. "They can actually use Zaplets as a way to punch through their business application into these suppliers, vendors and email clients, as if they were all part of the same company."

Such Zaplets work by creating a Web interface to the application and redirecting it into a Zaplet, which can then be sent to suppliers, partners, and/or customers, who would be able to interact with the enterprise application as if they were actually inside the enterprise.

Turn Your Shopping Carts into Zaplets

FireDrop foresees a use of Zaplets in online commerce, by turning shopping carts into Zaplets. Because of the dynamic nature of Zaplets, suppliers who are filling a customer's online order can update them on the status of the order, right there in the Zaplet. Zaplets would provide one place for everyone to communicate. "If a supplier has run out of an element of your order," says Chandra, "they can write and say, `Hey, I'm out of pink cottonballs. How about blue?' It's compelling from the supplier's point of view, because it can lead to more inventory turnover. And you have a more satisfied customer."

Free Zaplets for Individuals

While individuals can use Zaplets for free at their website, FireDrop's products are currently sold to corporations on the model of application service providers. Users can subscribe to their platform and to various Zaplets, and pay a service fee as they use them. Zaplets can be customized to address the needs of customers. FireDrop remains flexible and open to other business implementations in response to market dictates.

Features available from Zaplet.com (Click to enlarge)

Zaplet Development Environment

The Zaplet Development Environment (ZDE), which will allow customers to create new Zaplets or customize existing ones, are just around the corner. FireDrop is completing a platform that will enable developers to build lightweight applications for Zaplets.

Is there a Zaplet in Your Future?

Firedrop says Zaplets are poised to positively zap both personal and corporate communications, and that the applications of this technology seem boundless. By zapping, i.e. automating, heretofore painstaking, time-consuming processes, Firedrop expects users will see Zaplets showing up in their in-boxes soon.

See Also

Zaplet.com
(http://zaplet.zaplet.com/index.jsp)

Email Gets Rich Through Java^TM Technology
(http://java.sun.com/features/2000/04/emailaudio.html)

Email Just Got Radical
(http://java.sun.com/features/2000/04/emailrad.html)

Sun's Bill Joy and James Gosling Take the Stage
(http://java.sun.com/features/2000/06/keynote2.html)

[ This page was updated: 28-Jun-00 ]