Sun Microsystems Inc and IBM Corp claim it is because they share so many customers – they’re not saying how many – that they have decided to implement some common client, messaging and communications technologies (CI No 2,983). IBM is licensing Sun’ s Joe Java object request broker which ties Java clients to back-end object environments, in IBM’s case its System Object Model, version 3.0 of which is due by the year-end. In return Sun will integrate interfaces to IBM’s MQSeries messaging system and CICS transaction processing environment with Java, which, used in conjunction with Joe, will enable Java clients to access data from desktops through to mainframes. In addition, the two have agreed upon, and will implement, a specification for a common naming convention which will enable their respective object models to locate, share and exchange objects transparently. In addition, IBM has announced its long-expected implementation of the CICS transaction processing server for Solaris, which is due in the fourth quarter. Sun’s licensing of class libraries which include MQSeries application programming interfaces means they could be used to pass messages asynchronously between Java and Corba object request brokers over distributed networks. Java programmers will also be able to access CICS applications. The specification of a common naming convention is a semantic layer based upon the Object Management Group’s Corba naming services. The specification is available from their Web sites and the firms are hoping third party object request broker vendors will adopt it. There is no plan, at least not yet, to merge the code bases of Sun Neo and IBM System Object Model models, although the technology cross-licenses do include the provision for some code sharing.
