Sun introduces Sun Connect platform for Web-enabled financial services; Java-based environment provides open framework for secure financial transactions

Business Wire, June 23, 1997

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1997--In its latest move to advance electronic commerce, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) today announced Sun Connect, a Java-based architecture that will provide a complete and secure foundation for building and deploying Web-based financial services.

With Sun Connect, financial services organizations will be able to exploit the Web as a powerful new delivery channel, reaching a whole new range of customers. Products based on the Sun Connect architecture will be deployable on any hardware platform and will support all industry-leading specifications for online transactions, including Open Financial Exchange (OFX) and other messaging specifications.

Since Sun Connect is built using Java-based components, it offers the best development/deployment architecture for Web-based financial services using Java technology. It delivers built-in security, rapid prototyping and application development and true cross-platform operation. Because Sun Connect applications also adhere to the Java Write Once, Run Anywhere feature set, financial institutions have the choice to run on any computing platform -- an ideal solution for a heterogenous environment.

"Why limit your financial institution to one platform for Web-based services, when you can build in Sun Connect and choose any platform?" said Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "You also have to ask yourself whether your technology provider could compete, or ultimately wants your banking and brokerage customers. Sun is only focused on supporting the institution."

The Sun Connect development environment will include the tools, services and resources needed to develop banking, brokerage and other Web applications. A broker, for example, building a new online trading application can build and rapidly deploy a Sun Connect-based application throughout the full range of Web-enabled delivery channels, from PCs to kiosks, network computers and PDAs.

A number of leading organizations in the technology and financial services industries, including BEA Systems, MECA Software, Netscape, New Era of Networks, Inc. (NEON), Oracle and TIBCO are working with Sun on the Sun Connect architecture, contributing to a superior, open development environment and legacy systems integration.

Security

A highly secure transaction environment is a key benefit of Web-based financial services developed on Sun Connect. Sun Connect includes Sun's SunScreen network security solution as an additional layer of security to the built-in Java privacy features. SunScreen is a dedicated network solution whose unique "stealth" design makes it virtually invisible on networks to hackers and employs authentication and privacy technologies based on Simple Key Management for Internet Protocols (SKIP).

Legacy Integration

BEA, a leading provider of enterprise middleware and connectivity solutions for distributed online transaction processing, plays a key role in providing Sun Connect with the ability to connect with legacy systems. The BEA middleware component enables application management, load balancing and global systems administration functions needed to develop and deploy scalable, Web-based transaction capabilities and services.

NEON, a leading supplier of enterprise application integration solutions, is also a key contributor to the Sun Connect architecture for legacy integration. Because of this, Sun Connect can be customized to seamlessly interoperate with installed back-office systems, such as mainframes, and preserve customer investment in expensive heritage hardware, software and databases.

Transaction Services

Sun Connect offers an extensive set of services, including network and application load balancing, transparent access across multiple systems in a highly scalable and distributed environment through BEA's TUXEDO and NEON's NEONet.

BEA Jolt is BEA's software for enabling companies running mission-critical or legacy applications to immediately access the Internet or an enterprise intranet, with minimal additional application programming. Together, BEA Jolt and BEA TUXEDO are designed to guarantee an application's transactional integrity at the same level of security, reliability, interoperability, data integrity, and state of consistency in the Internet environment that people depend on in a distributed or legacy environment.

In addition, NEON's enterprise integration product, NEONet, provides very powerful capabilities including a real-time dynamic formatter for data transformation; and a rules engine for intelligent, content-based data routing. The NEONet message transformation capabilities and guaranteed delivery of every transaction -- once and only once -- allow businesses to deliver application integration across disparate networks with no loss of scalability or performance. Each message reaches each subscriber in the subscriber's native format regardless of the underlying database.

TIBCO, a leader in messaging middleware, provides Sun Connect with a scalable, multi-cast based publish/subscribe messaging environment. The TIB platform provides the real-time, guaranteed and transactional messaging capabilities necessary for integration of market data, risk management, decision support and order management systems.