Corel shelves Java bid with sale to GraphOn

Software Supplier to receive $3.9 billion injection for parting with jBridge technology.

Corel has finally pulled out of its doomed Java development bid by selling its jBridge technology to GraphOn in return for a 25 per cent stake, valued at $3.9 billion.

The Canadian software supplier jumped onto the Java bandwagon after it announced its Corel Office for Java productivity suite in 1996, but although the package was scheduled to ship in mid-1997, it never moved beyond beta testing because of performance problems.

jBridge was developed so the firm would not have to rewrite its core WordPerfect Suite in Java. The technology enables any operating system with an integrated Java Virtual Machine to access Windows applications running on a Windows NT server. Although the product is still at least six months from shipment, it already has a licensee, Sybase, which plans to use the technology to run PowerBuilder applications remotely.

Michael Cowpland, president and chief executive of Corel, said the company was pinning its hopes on Linux OS, instead of Java.

GraphOn will integrate jBridge with its own Go line of Unix thin client products, which are based on a proprietary, high-speed version of the X protocol. The developer's Go-Joe product already enables Java clients to access Unix and Linux applications, but jBridge will add Windows support, opening up a potentially much larger market.

Walt Keller, president and chief executive of GraphOn, said: 'We can connect any client platform to any server over any connection.'

But the firm faces an uphill struggle launching jBridge into the market because it will compete with the Terminal Server Edition of Microsoft's Windows NT Server.