Sun Touts Enhanced JXTA 2.0

Sun executives said the enhanced version of the XML-based P2P protocol, JXTA 2.0, provides increased scalability and performance. They also announced that ISVs including InView Software, Newcastle, Wash., and Internet Access Methods, New York will be implementing the protocol in their applications.

While observers expressed skepticism about actual deployment, Sun pointed to 1 million downloads since JXTA launched two years ago and more than 12,700 people participating in the open-source project.

JXTA 2.0 offers enhanced scalability and performance and is available for download now, Sun said Tuesday.

"It builds on Sun's vision of network computing. It's open-standards-based and it's not about PC-to-PC but reaching all devices," said John Fowler, CTO of Software at Sun. "It's build for today's enterprises, where you need massive scalability.

Fowler added that P2P is an essential technology to scale that enterprise. "You can't have a centralized repository to scale to millions of devices on the network," he said. "Version 2.0 focuses on performance, scalability and security of commercial deployments."

Sun also pointed to a few early customers, including the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Convenience Stores.

The National Association Of Realtors' technology arm, for example, built a P2P-based application based on JXTA that allow users to collaborate and share data from distributed property databases in realtime.

InView, meanwhile, used JXTA to integrate real-time collaboration and instant messaging capabilities into its Momentum application, also unveiled today. That company's distributed desktop application will allow end users to collaborate on the same files, company executives said.

Fowler said JXTA and P2P technology will enable customers to collaborate on Web services built on all platforms, including Microsoft's .Net and realtime communications platforms.

"We've been doing this a lot longer than Microsoft," Fowler said when asked if JXTA is overshadowed by Microsoft's highly publicized P2P initiatives. "It's a validation for P2P technology. Microsoft has significant issues from a platform perspective.

Sun remains committed to submitting JXTA as a standard protocl to a standards setting organziation but declined to provide further details.