Sun unveils Java mobile/enterprise enhancements

Mountain View, Ca. --- Sun Microsystems Inc. has unveiled details on new enhancementsw to the Java standards for enterprise, mobile and small footprint iappliance devices, the final versions of which are set for release early next year.

The Java Community Process (JCP) currently is casting final votes on Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.4 and a new version of Java 2, Micro Edition (J2ME).

J2EE 1.4, the latest version of the standard for Java-based application servers, includes support for several Java APIs for XML-based Web services. It will require companies building applications servers based on the standard to include Java API for XML Parsing (JAXP), Java API for XML Messaging (JAXM), Java API for XML Registries (JAXR), Java API for XML for Remote Procedure Calls (JAXRPC) for SOAP messaging; and another Java API supporting WSDL.

The new spec is also slated to include a new standard for extending J2EE containers, a standard J2EE for management and deployment functionality, and an enhanced version of the Java Connector Architecture (JCA) that provides two-way integration with systems outside of the enterprise.

The reference implementation of J2EE 1.4 will be available for download in late October or early November, with a new J2EE 1.4 version of its Sun ONE Studio development environment expected out by May 2003.

The new J2ME standard for building wireless Java applications will have three major upgrades, the most important of which is a new 2.0 version of the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), the standard for defining how to build applications for wireless handsets.

Among new features in MIDP 2.0 will be updated over-the-air provisioning to make the platform more secure, and a new user interface that defines support for screen sizes and features such as scroll wheels.

Another new feature in the next version of J2ME is support for the Mobile Media API, an API created by the JCP that adds enhanced sound, graphics and other multimedia capability for Java-enabled phones.

The third enhancement is the addition of new wireless messaging APIs and support for short message service (SMS) and broadcast message service (BMS) on handsets.

In addition, the JCP recently approved the Personal Profile, which provides APIs and technologies for building Java applications on PDAs and set-top boxes.