Web Services Major Thrust At JavaOne

Although J2EE has caught on as the de facto standard for building and deploying enterprise-scale Java applications, solution providers said it is still difficult to use and does not have native Web services support.

Peter Jenkins, senior architect at solution provider Candle, El Segundo, Calif., said Sun and its partners must simplify J2EE development if Java is to compete with Microsoft's .Net.

"Five years ago, people could make money being HTML page designers, but today a 6-year-old can do it by pointing and clicking," said Jenkins. "That's where we need to be with [J2EE to counter the threat by the evil empire in Redmond."

At the show Sun will release an early-access version of Forte for Java 4.0, its Java integrated development environment (IDE), with support for major Web services standards including WSDL, UDDI and SOAP, said Drew Angstrom, Forte's product line manager. It also will include an integrated IDE for creating C, C++ and Fortran applications as well as Java applications, and will have native support for BEA Systems' and Oracle's J2EE app servers, he said.

In addition, Sun will lay out a road map for J2EE 1.4, with native support for Web services through Java Specification Requests currently under review in the Java Community Process, said Simon Phipps, Sun's chief technology evangelist.

Also at the show, IBM will release new configurations of its WebSphere Application Server and its WebSphere Studio tool to enable solution providers to visually "choreograph" applications by using a drag-and-drop interface, said Scott Cosby, an IBM WebSphere manager.

SAP will demonstrate its first J2EE-based application server since licensing the technology last year, said an SAP spokeswoman. The application server is part of SAP's mySAP Technology platform for building Web services and supports SOAP, UDDI and ebXML, she said.

BEA will unveil a slew of partners developing solutions on its new J2EE-based WebLogic Workshop application framework, said John Kiger, BEA's director of product marketing.

Iona will update its XMLBus developer tool with new Web services support, said John Rymer, Iona's vice president of product marketing.