Sun Microsystems Inc, Mountain View, California has formally released its JavaSoft business unit which will handle all product development, support, marketing and sales of product lines based on the Java development language and the HotJava Web browser (CI No 2,826). JavaSoft will market and sell products worldwide both independently and through Sun’s existing business units. It will develop products based on its own internally-developed technology and license third-party software to build applications, tools, system and services that augment Java. Alan Baratz, formerly president and chief executive of Delphi Internet Services Corp, the on-line business unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, and before that IBM Corp director of strategic development, heads the unit. He told us that JavaSoft will initially focus on development tools, class libraries and applications. It will also work to extend the functionality of operating systems and microprocessors, he said. Later, JavaSoft will develop corporate Intranet products based on Java, for document sharing, spreadsheets, systems management and application maintenance. Baratz doesn’t have a business plan yet.
