Sun, Rational to Make Rapid E-Development Suites

In an effort to accelerate the pace of Java e-application development, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java technologies will be integrated with integrated e-solutions from $572 million Rational Software Corp. to create packaged development solutions. The solution game plan and strategic relationship was announced at the JavaOne Developers Conference, held here June 6 to June 9.

"Companies are coming to us saying 'Help me get off NT and build my applications on Web standard technologies like Java and XML,'" says Doug Kaewert, Sun's vice president of market development and developer relations. "This alliance between Rational and Sun will produce integrated suites that make developers more productive."

The alliance's e-development suites will be fully integrated with Sun's Java, Java 2 Enterprise Edition, and Forte for Java technologies. Rational will become a Java, J2EE, and Forte for Java licensee. The company will integrate its ClearCase development tools and Rational Rose Universal Modeling Language for the Sun Solaris 8 operating environment with Forte for Java IDE. Rational will also build Java2 technology into future versions of Rational Rose.

"We'll make it easy for Java and Solaris applications to become more complex," says Steve Saunders, Rational business development director. "Yet, with familiar tools in an integrated package, they'll be able to create more complex applications more quickly."

To get developers moving rapidly into wireless applications, Rational and Sun will team with such wireless development tools as Rational Rose RealTime and Sun Java Micro Edition. For example, developers can develop e-device applications with Rational's UML, and then spin off Java-based applications for pagers, cell phones and set-top boxes.

These tools are going to help developers spark and be a part of "an explosive growth curve in the use of Java in mobile wireless solutions," Saunders says.

"Sun continues to offer more complete development environments for us," says Tom Heagy, software development manager for Scientific Atlanta,an Atlanta, Ga.-based developer of solutions for set-top boxes and digital networks. "What Sun continues to do with Java far exceeds what anyone else has done with a development platform, including Microsoft."