Sun Microsystems Inc’s JavaSoft Inc division will claim today at New York’s Internet World that it has completed the Java platform with the addition of two server platforms, a server toolkit, a bunch of new APIs and a JavaBeans toolkit. The Java NC server deploys applications to network computers running JavaOS and the HotJava Views so-called webtop platform – a customizable browser- based front-end. It will enable software to be deployed across intranets, but is not the thing that boots up the NCs; that’s left to Sun’s Netra j server family and others like it. JavaSoft’s Web server is a departmental server that’ll run on any existing server platform, including Unix, AS/400 Novell or a PC. It supports the Java Servlet API alternative to Common Gateway Interface (CGI), which is the server equivalent of an applet. It’s available as an early access release at http://java.sun.com/java-server and will ship for free early next year. For those who want to build their own Java servers – and there’s likely to be quite a few – the company will offer the Java server Toolkit, including a basic server, sample servlets and the Java Developers Kit 1.1. It also includes the Java Servlet Engine which the company claims enables servers to run on legacy servers. The Toolkit will be licensed to developers at an unspecified time, and the NC Server will emerge mid-1997. The new application programming interfaces (APIs) announced today are Java Transaction Services, part of the Java Enterprise API set, and the Java Speech API, a member of the Java Media API family. JavaSoft got help with the Transaction Services API from Tandem Computers Inc and BEA Systems Inc, and from IBM Corp with the implementation. It’s based on Object Management Group’s (OMG) Object Transaction Services Standard, and links Java applications to transaction servers to do on-line transaction processing. The Java Speech API means developers can add speech recognition and synthesis to their Java apps. JavaSoft got help from Apple Computer Inc, IBM, Novell, Philips Electronics NV and Sun Microsystems Computer Co – the hardware division. JavaSoft will also announce that it’s to publish the Java Media framework in three parts. The first part, the Java Media Player draft specification – developed jointly with Intel Corp and Silicon Graphics Inc – will be available for public revision by New Year’s Eve. It’s an API for the synchronization, control, processing and playback of audio and video streaming. Java Media Capture and Media Conference APIs will follow.
