Sun Sets Sights On Wireless Web Services Market

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Software vendors are firing the opening salvo in what is sure to be the
next round of battles between Sun Microsystems and
Microsoft Corp. by announcing support for Sun’s Web services framework over the
airwaves.

Sun, developer of the Java 2 platform enterprise edition (J2EE), is expected to announce a series of standards Monday morning at its JavaOne Developer’s Conference in San Francisco that
signal the beginning of a long-awaited confrontation between .Net and J2EE
technology using handsets.

Until recently, Sun has been mum on its specific wireless Web services
vision, but experts believe that by the end of the day, that vision will be
more clearly defined. Standards for the Java2 Platform, micro edition
(J2ME) have been around for nearly a year and open the door to a host of
applications in the wireless world previously unknown.

At least initially, .Net has been winning the publicity battle with
Microsoft launching an aggressive campaign to showcase its Web service
framework. Sun, on the other hand, has remained relatively low-key,
building consensus within the J2EE community.

Patricia Sueltz, Sun software systems group executive vice president, said
its a combination of good technology and open standards that make J2EE and
J2ME a hit with developers.

“Java technology has established itself as the platform of choice for
developing Web services through a combination of platform independence,
open XML based interfaces, an inherently secure architecture, and a
collaborative community-based process for expanding the technology to
address new needs and markets,” she said.

To date, a wireless phone’s programs and functions were limited to what the
carrier thought people wanted. Now, corporations can marry up their own
universal description, discovery and integration (UDDI) libraries with
wireless phones to provide a host of applications.

News from Nextel and Motorola

Nextel Communications took the first shot of the day,
announcing early Monday the launch of its mobile application manager, which
lets Nextel customers manage and distribute their own Web service tools.

Also announced Monday was Motorola’s download server for enterprise, a
similar Java-based wireless Web service to Nextel’s product.

Mike Bordelon, Motorola Internet software and content group corporate vice
president and general manager, said the new download server for wireless
phones is the next stage in evolution for Motorola’s existing phone
applications.

“The launch of the J2ME Download Server by Motorola showcases our
commitment to creating an expansive J2ME application library, as well as
the products that will support them,” he said. “With the launch of this
server, Motorola can build on the strengths of its past commercial
deployments and its existing infrastructure to support the largest number
of active users in North America.”

This story was first published on internetnews.com, an internet.com site.