Sun dreams of Jini, debuts new system

Electronic News, Dec 14, 1998 by Arik Hesseldahl

New York -- Will there someday be a Jini in your home? Sun Microsystems is certainly dreaming of Jini, and presented tantalizing peeks at the technology at the Java Business Expo in New York.

Sun's Jini technology, the company says, will allow for the networking of practically any Jini-enabled device - from printers, digital cameras to household appliances. Though it will not be officially unveiled until Jan. 25, Sun CEO Scott McNealy demonstrated Jini technology in a digital camera, a household fan, and a porch light from a Jini-enabled PC or TV set in his keynote address Wednesday. McNealy said about two dozen hardware and software developers have licensed the technology, but that the names of those licensees will not be revealed until Jan. 25.

"If you're doing a Java Virtual Machine it's easy to add Jini. If you're not, Jini is a compelling reason to add a VM to your device," McNealy said.

With Jini, a Java agent is embedded within a device, that when plugged into a network, downloads and executes a driver from a server, bringing the device's unique interface to the user. A lookup service acts as a database of information about the devices on the network. The device agent checks with the lookup service and launches the appropriate device driver and user interface within seconds as it is connected to the network.

And though Jini generated a good deal of buzz at the show, the big news was Sun's announcement of Java 2, the upgrade of the Java programming language, and Sun's announcement that it is joining the open source movement by releasing its source code. Under the new licensing arrangement, developers can license the Java source code for free, and don't pay Sun a royalty until a final product is delivered to the marketplace.

Sun portrayed Java 2 as a "ready for prime time" release that adds functionality, solid performance and security that it says is appropriate for mission critical business applications.

"There's been a great convergence at the hardware level around Intel, and to a lesser extent the PowerPC chip and the UltraSparc, and now we have an applications environment that go across all of them," said Joe Clabby, an analyst with the Aberdeen Group. "Platforms become even less of a consideration when picking applications, which are the real solutions. The operating system is a less material consideration, the underlying hardware is less of a consideration because the applications can run across many environments."

Prototype products on display at Sun's booth included customer loyalty and bill payment kiosks running Sun's JavaStation NC, on-screen telephones manufactured by Samsung and Alcatel, and an Internet-browsing TV set top box.