Sun unveils Java for Linux appliances
SAN FRANCISCO (01/31/2001) -- Sun Microsystems Inc. Wednesday shipped two components of its J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition) for Linux which together can provide a software platform for consumer and business networked devices, according to the company. The announcement beefs up Sun's support for embedded systems, an area into which the Linux operating system is moving more aggressively than ever.
Sun made the announcement on the first day of the LinuxWorld conference and exposition in New York.
The two components are J2ME CDC (connected device configuration), and a "foundation profile" for Linux, which is a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for building applications that will run on networked devices, Sun said in a statement. The vendor hopes they will be used in future consumer electronics devices including advanced digital television set-top boxes and residential gateways which aim at improving home networking as well as in-car systems.
J2ME is one of Sun's technologies which uses the vendor's open-source-style Java Community Process, which allows developers to contribute suggestions concerning the software's specifications and implementations.
A number of software and hardware vendors applauded Sun's move to make J2ME available on Linux. Among them were development tools company Borland Corp. and handheld OS vendor Symbian Ltd. Both companies are particularly interested in Java-based wireless technologies. Motorola Inc. is also set to release J2ME-based wireless phones later this year, having announced a tie-up with CollabNet Inc. earlier this month to use the firm's open-source SourceCast service to design applications for the phones. [See "Motorola and CollabNet forge Java pact," Jan. 16.]
Sun's J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition) and J2EE (Java Platform, Enterprise Edition) already support the Linux operating system.
The J2ME CDC and foundation profile can be downloaded from http://www.sun.com/software/communitysource/.
In other news at LinuxWorld, Sun also unveiled its Sun Grid Engine 5.2 DRM (distributed resource management) software for Linux, which can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.sun.com/gridware. The software was previously only available for Sun's own flavor of Unix -- Solaris.
Sun Grid Engine aims to match idle computing resources to job requirements, thus optimizing a system through improved scalability, according to a Sun statement.
The vendor said it plans to open up the source code of the software to third party developers via an open-source license and an alliance with CollabNet. The pair expect to roll out an open-source version of Sun Grid Engine within the next six months, Sun said in the statement.
» posted by abennett
IDG News Service
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