McNealy and Co. mean business with their new strategy for NC-based enterprise computing
New York (October 30, 1996) — Sun Microsystems yesterday unveiled a broad battle plan for reducing the total cost of ownership of computers in the corporate workplace. With a salvo of announcements before an audience of more than 600 industry analysts, strategic partners, customers, and members of the press, executives at Sun outlined the benefits of their vision for a future in which companies will spend less for hardware, software, training, administration, and maintenance, while simultaneously increasing productivity and communication among employees — all of which will rely largely upon Java (the core network programming language as well as related technologies such as the JavaOS). It is a vision upon which the company is willing to bet its own future. And Sun will need to be aggressive. Competition for the next generation of devices for the corporate enterprise is becoming white-hot.
“This will be our focus for the next seven years,” said Sun CEO Scott McNealy at the rollout. “We intend to take Java technology up to whole new levels, from the mainframe and the supercomputer right on down to the pager and the smart card. In a recent poll, 77 percent of chief information technology officers said they were in the process of building an intranet. The growth rate in intranets is 300 percent a year. So this is a cool business for us to be in.”
The crowd pleaser at Sun’s new product rollout was the JavaStation, a low-cost “zero-administration” network computer (NC) for running secure Java-enabled applications over corporate intranets or via the Internet. Equally important to Sun’s strategy, though, are the introductions of its Netra j server, an array of software solutions for network computing, and a complete regimen of educational and support services.
Getting down to business
The Netra j is described by Sun as “the zero-admin server for the zero-admin client.” It runs in the JavaOS environment and features Sun’s Netra browser-based administration tool suite. Firewall protection and Internet services come pre-installed, along with Netscape authoring and management software. Applix, Corel, Oracle, and OpenConnect Systems are the first to announce that they will bundle business applications to the Netra j. If the JavaStation will soon be at your fingertips, the Netra j is likely to be where your brain will be going. Ranging in price from ,000 to 00,000 in five configurations, the Netra j will be vital to the Java NC’s hopes for success in the enterprise.
“Take the money you’ll save from not having to invest in another mainframe, from not spending on the Year 2000 [date problem], and not having to upgrade your desktop PCs, and put it into the Java computing model,” said McNealy. “It’s the right architectural choice for your ROI [return on investment].”
Sun’s software announcements included:
HotJava Views 1.0 — a customizable “Webtop” for the JavaStation. Views serves as the user interface for the new Sun NC. It promises to dramatically reduce costs on the client side while providing end users with an intuitive yet highly integrated operating environment. Views consists entirely of button-operated features: Selector, a control for customizing the interface; MailView, an email viewer and editor; CalendarView, a personal calendar and interactive group scheduler; NameView, a personal contact database manager; and InfoView, a personal browser applet.
Project Studio — a drag-and-drop environment based on the JavaBeans API for codeless generation of Java applets, enabling users to build their own business content offerings.
Project Speedway — new technology for accelerating the performance of Java applications through the use of next-generation just-in-time compilers and Java Virtual Machines.
Project ICE-T — a new tool for connecting Java clients to existing enterprise systems, protecting current business investments in information technology.
Joe 1.0 — a CORBA-compliant object-request broker for the delivery of sophisticated business applications over corporate intranets or via the Internet. Joe is immediately available for free downloading from Sun’s Web site.
JavaPlan — a suite of tools for creating a repository of object-oriented models, code, and business processes in Java, expediting the delivery and maintainability of custom applications.
- Solstice Internet Mail 2.0 — a new Java-based client/server e-mail system that supports Eudora, Exchange, and ProntoMail, among others, and operates on any platform with a Java runtime environment.
“When we demo HotJava Views, people immediately react with the same response, ‘Oh, now I get it’,” said David Spenhoff, director of marketing for the new product. “We started by gathering our human-interface engineers together back in June and told them that we wanted the simplest and most integrated design they could come up with. And frankly, we were a little surprised at how many roadblocks in the interface they were able to eliminate.”
Sun also announced its plans for educating users and administrators, as well as expanding its support services for Java developers. The new education offerings, to be conducted at Sun training sites worldwide, include the Java and Internet Skills Analysis Service, the Java and Internet Training Curriculum, and the Java Certification Program. Sun’s new JavaTutor will deliver self-paced learning to users over the Internet or from a CD-ROM. Subscription-based online and live telephone support for developers working with Java will provide 24-hour access to a staff of SunService engineers.
Of bricks and coffee makers
According to Sun, its diskless JavaStation will operate in the new JavaOS operating system (which requires less than 3 megabytes of RAM); it will use HotJava Views as its GUI; and it will let users access the Net and intranets with either the HotJava or Navio Navigator browsers. The new Sun NC will be offered in two form factors: a stylish design for the desktop, called The Coffee Maker; and a plain box design, called The Brick, for out-of-eyesight uses. JavaStations will be offered in configurations using 8MB to 64MB of main memory and 4MB to 8MB of flash memory. The base price for a JavaStation will be 42; a full-featured model will cost 95; and a model equipped with a 17-inch monitor and keyboard will run ,565. The first JavaStation production models are expected to ship in December.
The JavaStation is based on Sun’s own SPARC architecture and conforms to the NC Reference 1.0 spec formulated by a group led by Apple Computer, IBM, Oracle, and Sun. Sixty-five companies already have written business applications in Java for the new NC; 38 of them displayed their wares on a show floor set up specially for the JavaStation’s unveiling.
Demonstrating the new product’s practically costless installation to the audience in New York and those watching via closed-circuit TV, McNealy himself plugged in the cabling and downloaded the operating system for a JavaStation from a dedicated network in a little over two minutes.
War is brewing
Sun, of course, is not alone in its pursuit of capturing market share for the next generation of enterprise desktop computers. Recent announcements by Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM have made it clear that a knockdown-dragout brawl will soon ensue for the hearts and minds of corporate decision-makers worldwide. On Monday, Microsoft released preliminary specs for its NetPC, a stripped-down Intel device (which McNealy called “a PC in a corset”) that will run in a new lightweight Windows environment. Oracle, also in conjunction with Intel, is expected to announce next week that its new Network Computer, using Netscape Navigator, will be ready for the public by December. And IBM has released details of its forthcoming Network Station, also expected to be rolled out soon. So the competition in the year ahead should be nothing less than ferocious.
“Sun’s release shows that it really knows the game better than most,” said Philip Meese, director of technical services for Mercury Technologies, an intranet solutions consultancy for companies on Wall Street. “It’s not just the JavaStation. That would never fly by itself. Sun has the vision to simultaneously release the network-management software that definitely will be required to make the NC fly. A war here is a good thing, but peace would be better. Can you imagine if Microsoft put all it’s efforts into porting its application base to a chip-independent platform like Java?”
Platform independence is a powerful weapon to wield, but the bottom-line issue for corporate technology managers, of course, will be total cost of ownership (TCO) over the long haul.
“The thing that is going to drive this business is TCO,” McNealy said. “You’ve all heard the numbers: anywhere from ,000 to 3,000 a year, depending on who you talk to, for hardware depreciation, software amortization, network costs, user education, system administration, and just plain futzing with the computer. We plan to bring that number down to ,500 a year.”
Judging from the lineup of products announced yesterday and a show of support at the rollout from more than 450 software vendors and system integrators already signed on to the Java Enterprise Computing initiative, Sun has an excellent chance of coming out on top in the looming NC War of 1997.
“War only occurs when a resource is scarce,” said Arthur van Hoff, CTO of Marimba. “I only hope that there is enough demand for a united platform so that the major players are forced to concentrate on interoperability.”
