Sun Microsystems has detailed its new software strategy - Sun Open Net Environment (ONE) - focused on creating open, "smart" Web services rather than standalone applications.
Sun ONE includes an open architecture, roadmap, and a product portfolio for its smart Web services. The architecture is based around XML; enterprise Java beans (EJB); the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) specification; and lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP).
Sun hopes the Sun ONE initiative will result in greater productivity and lower costs for businesses, faster time-to-service and increased market opportunity for developers, and an enriched user experience for consumers.
"We are on the cusp of the next generation of computing where Web services are going to gain context awareness and be delivered over multi-enterprise networks - offering users, and businesses with new competitive weapons, enhanced experiences," says Daryl Plummer, group VP, GartnerGroup. "There is an opportunity to provide a whole new world of platforms, tools and architecture that could take Web services to the next level."
Tools to help developers leverage the new platform include the planned release of Forte 4, which will include an EJB to XML parser, enabling developers to build services from components.
The Sun/Netscape alliance is not left out, with a host of iPlanet products due to take advantage of the new infrastructure. The LDAP-based iPlanet Directory Server 5.0 is a major part of the base infrastructure, while iPlanet's Portal Server, Application Server, Web Server, Commerce Portfolio, Trustbase Transaction Manager and Market Maker, will all leverage the new framework to offer integration and compatibility with Sun and third-party products.
For the Internet service provider, the Sun ONE Webtop, developer release 1.0, is designed to deliver office productivity applications as services, providing ISPs/ASPs to deliver a branded, customized webtop to their customers on a range of devices, from a PC to a cellphone. Productivity applications include word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software.
"Smart Web services are to the Information Age what interchangeable parts were to the Industrial Age," says Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems. "We're on the brink of an explosion of services that will flourish in this free market and bring simpler, easier, smarter services to every man, woman and child."
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