Brewster's Millions
Java's strong brew is keeping Sun in the money, freeing it from thedaily grind of network computer rivalry, says Geof Wheelwright
While Microsoft, Intel and Oracle have been slugging it out in the battle between the network computer (NC) and the PC, one company has been able to quietly chuckle about it all and watch the money roll in.
That company is Sun Microsystems, whose Java technology is behind every major Web-based computing effort at the moment - whether it is Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, Oracle's NC or even the handheld Internet computer proposed by Corel. Sun, however, wants a lot more.
Late last month, the company announced plans to enter the low-end hardware market with an NC device of its own. Called the Java Station, it could present strong competition to Oracle as well as Microsoft and Intel's Net PC.
Java Station is the first family of pure Java machines specifically optimised to run Java applications. It is being aimed at the people in charge of Fortune 1000 companies.
Sun claims the machine will transform the economics of running a large enterprise by shifting the computer's administration and support of data and applications from the desktop to the network. It says this model is more cost-effective than networked PCs, and will allow firms to develop breakaway business strategies.
'Many top companies are concerned about the enormous cost and complexity of maintaining these giant networks of 10,000 or more PCs, each carrying a total cost of ownership of about $12,000 a year,' says Gene Banman, Sun VP and general manager of the desktop systems group.
'Because it allows developers to write applications once that will run on any platform, regardless of OS, the Java environment gives Fortune 1000 CIOs a way out of this financial and organisational quagmire.'
Sun claims the Java Station will reduce 'the burden of administration, speed application development and deployment and improve security' - all of which sounds similar to Microsoft, Intel and Oracle's claims for their corporate NCs.
As well as the Java OS, the Java Station environment features a set of products, Hot Java Views, which include desktop productivity applets and the Hot Java browser. Instead of using an existing operating system, Sun has developed Java OS as a new operating system specifically to run Java programs from the network on a desktop system. It is written in Java, includes the Java Virtual Machine and class libraries, and takes only 3.5Mb to efficiently run applications.
Although Java Station is mainly intended to run existing off-the-shelf and custom Java applications, the company says it has been designed so that it can run host legacy terminal environments - such as SNA 3270, 5250, VT220 - and therefore take over directly from existing dumb terminals.
The company is also at pains to say Java Station can access Microsoft PC applications from an NT server.
It will even run Windows applications using the Ntrigue applet from Insignia Solutions.
Despite all of this, there's not much in a Java Station. It has no hard drive, no slots, no floppy, and no CD-Rom player. As a result, Sun says there are no jumpers to set and no moving parts to worry about.
Yet, Sun says it contains everything that Fortune 1000 companies will need to link the desktop with the Internet or corporate network. Its specifications include a Micro Sparc II chip, memory that scales from 8Mb to 64Mb, built-in standard 10Base-T networking and promises to expand it to 100Base-T by mid 1997. It includes either a 14in or 17in XVGA colour monitor.
And in mid 1997, Sun says it will add PPP and Flash Ram features.
Sun promises Java Station will be easy to install. And it says if one breaks down, it can be swapped for another system without losing any applications, saved user files or experiencing significant down-time.
For these reasons, Sun says it has already won some corporate orders, including First Union National Bank's capital markets technology division, which is evaluating Java Stations for operational areas to reduce total cost of ownership per seat and to speed deployment of its custom applications.
Beginning in December, Sun says it will ship the entry Java Station package with 8Mb of main memory for $742. A fully configured package, which includes 8Mb of main memory, a keyboard, mouse and a 14in colour monitor, will ship for $995. Sun will also ship the Java Station with 16Mb of memory, a mouse, keyboard and a 17in colour monitor for $1,565.
At the launch of Java Station, Sun boasted that 65 independent software companies had unveiled 85 products and applications designed to run on Sun's Java enterprise computing platform. Thirty-five companies demonstrated their software at the launch, including Bann, IBM, Computer Associates, Informix, Oracle, SAP, SAS Institute and Sybase/Powersoft.
Sun says these Java-enabled software solutions address 'every facet of the corporate enterprise' from mission-critical middleware and development tools to personal productivity applications, such as wordprocessing and email.
It estimates that with some 450 independent software vendors (ISVs) developing Java enterprise applications - which can be written once and will run on any platform that offers a Java browser - the platform independence of Java technology allows ISVs to develop products that zero-in on the most pressing issue facing company heads.
According to Sun, that issue is how to manage the spiralling cost and administrative complexity of heterogeneous computing environments. Analysts also suggest this is why so many ISVs are getting involved in Java applications development.
'Java is exciting to ISVs because of its platform independence,' says Tracy Corbo, senior analyst at International Data. 'Up till now, interoperability has been a major obstacle in the timely deployment of business critical applications. Java opens the door to a new approach to application development, with the Internet as the backbone for creating and deploying intranet and extranet applications.'
Sun is crowing about just how fast all this has happened. 'It's amazing that Java technology was only introduced about 18 months ago, and already it is being seen as the next great wave in computing,' says Mark Tolliver, Sun computer company vice president of market development.
'All the major operating systems will have it and hundreds of ISVs are either adapting their best-selling products to the Java enterprise platform or creating new mission-critical business applications for it. Java has become ubiquitous at a record rate, and we'll continue assisting independent software developers to keep the momentum going.'
In recognition of the fact that it needs to find a way to certify Java applications and support their growth, in August Sun opened test centres on the east and west coasts of the US. The company says this move is part of an effort to closely tie ISV support with engineering and market development resources.
Sun is also making an effort to include the other big Internet pioneer in all of this: it has announced that Navio Navigator, the Internet browser for non-PC and consumer devices produced by Netscape spin-off Navio Communications, will be available on Java Station.
'This announcement means that Sun's customers can have the Navio Navigator browser on Java NCs, and this relationship creates an industry standard in the new category of NCs for consumer and business devices,' says Navio president and CEO Wei Yen.
On the face of it, the Java Station does not look like good news for dealers. As it is a self-contained beast that could encourage many of its users to use and buy their software over the Net, and will sell at a price that will not mean huge per machine revenues for dealers, it initially looks like an unattractive proposition.
But the truth of the matter could be quite different. No one knows how Java software is likely to be sold, and it may well be that forward-looking dealers that run their own Web sites could end up as major participants in a Java Station software revenue stream.
In addition, enterprising third parties are certain to find ways of adding to the Java Station those items that Sun seems so sure it doesn't need - like a floppy disk drive and a CD-Rom. The question is whether those people who are attracted to buying Java Stations will want such add-ons.
Probably the biggest impact all of this will have on dealers is that it adds further momentum to the whole NC effort , further ensuring that this is not a 'flash in the pan' idea. As network computers are increasingly pushed on the general public, dealers will need to find a way to supply them and understand what their role might be in adding value. But that, of course, is another story.