Sun Scores App Server Customer Wins With Motorola, Vodafone

Sun, based here, said it is providing Sun ONE software to Motorola and Vodafone.

In the Motorola deal, Sun teamed teamed with Sun iForce partner Affiliated Computer Systems, Dallas. ACS said it inked a 10-year deal with Motorola to rearchitect its HR systems, software and processes for a solution called the Employee Self-Service Network, which is based on Sun ONE Application Server, according to ACS.

Motorola initiated the HR solution some years ago but decided in September 2001 to move to a standards-based solution using Sun ONE software. ACS will be facilitating the remainder of that transition.

The solution uses a workflow application to route transactions for electronic approval, which enables employees to update HR information, such as personal additions and changes, according to ACS. It also allows supervisors to perform administrative functions electronically through the Manager Desktop feature.

Vodafone, meanwhile, is building the majority of its data services using Sun ONE software, including Sun One Application Server and Sun ONE Identity Server, a Sun spokesman said.

During a JavaOne keynote by Scott McNealy two weeks ago, Vodafone unveiled a new Digital Companion service using Sun ONE software as well as JXTA, Sun's P2P technology.

The service performs functions such as notifying an online customer when he or she is receiving a call to a remote phone and giving the customer the ability to choose whether to forward a call to a mobile phone or send a file via JXTA to the caller's computer.

Sun's Java application server is a late bloomer and has always been playing catch-up to competing products from BEA and IBM, which still have the lion's share of the market.

A recent report by IDC put BEA and IBM in a dead heat for first, with 27.5 percent of market share each, followed by Oracle with 16.8 percent share. Sun came in a distant fourth with 4.2 percent of market share.

All this jockeying for position could be a moot point, however, as Sun readies its Project Orion for its first release this fall.

Project Orion eventually will bundle all of the Sun ONE middleware products with Sun's Solaris operating system, giving customers an entire Java software platform virtually for free when they purchase Sun's Solaris running on Sun hardware systems.

In other news on the Java software front, BEA, both a Sun rival and partner, is gearing up for the general availability of WebLogic Enterprise Platform 8.1 next month, which includes WebLogic Server 8.1, WebLogic Portal 8.1, WebLogic Integration 8.1 and WebLogic Workshop 8.1.

WebLogic 8.1 recently received a favorable review from Gartner, which gave kudos to the company for its "daring plan to redefine itself" by offering a unified application development and integration platform in 8.1.

The new software also provides a visual J2EE tool, called the WebLogic Workshop, to build applications across WebLogic Server, portal and integration products.

The Gartner report also said BEA made the right decision with its strategic change to provide an entire Java software infrastructure rather than individual products.

With its reputation for providing solid technology and ability to provide software not tied to a proprietary OS, application or hardware, BEA has a good chance at continuing its Java software dominance, the report said.

Still, the Gartner report noted that BEA has significant challenges to face, including its offering of yet-unproven technology with WebLogic Integration 8.1 and a lack of compelling midmarket strategy to counter competitive products such as IBM's Express line of WebSphere software.