Sun Microsystems Inc chose its lively JavaOne event in San Francisco this week as the venue for its expected expansion of the Java language beyond the client and down to the server (CI No 3,123). The company has launched what it calls the Java Platform for the Enterprise, which includes Enterprise JavaBeans, an extension of its existing JavaBeans component architecture that will support rich object-oriented transactional environments. Sun hopes the new initiative will make Java more suitable for use in manufacturing, financial, inventory management, shipping and pay-roll applications. Enterprise JavaBeans will be available as a draft specification this summer, following industry consultation with a set of unnamed partners, and should be ready in its final version by year-end. Sun will group together a set of application programming interfaces around JavaBeans, including JDBC Java DataBase Connectivity, the JNDI Naming and Directory Interface, the Java Interface Definition Language to interact with Corba objects, and Java Transaction Services & Management interfaces. The firm says it will also work together with partners on a Java Message Service applications programming interface to support company-wide messaging systems.
