Sun Microsystems Inc expects to have reference versions of a Java point-of-sale specification available for Windows NT and JavaOS by the summer while POS vendors, including NCR Corp and IBM Corp promise new cash register hardware and software supporting the specification to be generally available by year-end (CI No 3,323). Sun will include support for JavaPOS in a future release of the basic Java development kit. Devices running an early cut of the spec were being shown in several demonstrations at this week’s National Retail Federation show in New York. Some of the biggest US retailers, including JC Penny, Sears and Home Depot want new web-enabled generations of POS applications they are writing in Java to run on cash registers and utilize POS peripherals manufactured by multiple vendors. They think JavaPOS will also lead to the development of network computer and Java- based POS devices and peripherals which are cheaper than PC equivalents and provide new opportunities to innovate in-store marketing. In addition to IBM and NCR, retail technology manufacturers such as Fujitsu/ICL, Siemens Nixdorf and Epson are supporting JavaPOS, albeit alongside Microsoft Corp’s OLE for point-of-sale (OPOS) specification which is already used by some 160 peripheral vendors. Sun says applications using JavaPOS interfaces will run on any Java virtual machine and support any POS device which incorporates JavaPOS interfaces. And there’s the rub. JavaPOS is currently just a set of programming interfaces. It does not yet have a device driver model or registry system although Sun is expected to define these by mid-year. Until then JavaPOS retail suppilers or ISVs will need to write device drivers for each virtual machine or NC device, as some companies have already done – see separate story this section. They also require a bridge to exchange data with Windows-based devices.

Bridges

Much of the early JavaPOS legwork was undertaken by UK POS software house Datafit Ltd, which essentially re-wrote the OPOS I/O subsystem in Java and gave it to the JavaPOS committee. The Java subset does not include those parts of the JDK Microsoft has chosen not to implement but does contain two APIs specific to NT’s registry which if Microsoft does not support directly Sun says it will in its Java-for-Windows technologies. Guildford, Surry-based Datafit was this week showing its BeanStore Java development environment running a JavaPOS application on IBM NT- based registers and Java-based NC Network Stations connected to OPOS peripherals using a low-level mapping. Datafit says it will license the bridge to third parties. NCR bets retailers will buy Windows CE and NT-based registers to run POS applications written in Java rather than the JavaOS-based NC model favored by IBM, Sun and others, has written and demonstrated its own JavaPOS-to-OPOS bridge connecting JavaPOS applications to OPOS bar code readers, cash registers and scanners which it will supply to customers but has no plans to offer OEM. It promises JavaPOS support in new hardware and software by year-end. Both JavaPOS and OPOS include method direct I/O interfaces enabling vendors to build value-add devices which are not covered by the specs.