Vendors Team Up for Java Development

Leading vendors are banding together to make it easier to develop tools for Java. BEA Systems, Compuware, Embarcadero Technologies, Iopsis Software, JetBrains, Oracle, Quest Software, SAP, SAS, and Sun Microsystems (along with customers US Sprint and Verizon), have formed the Java Tools Community (JTC). The hope is that other developers will benefit from more tools that are easier to use, thus increasing the number of Java applications available. In the CRM space Java2 Enterprise Edition is a common platform for developers to write applications to. J2EE-based products are seen as providing easy interoperability and integration among enterprise and midmarket CRM solutions with other applications, back-end software, and add-on programs. The JTC charge is to make standard Java technology APIs friendlier for tool development. The group states that a main thrust is "toolability," which is defined as a measurement of how easy it is to build tools around a particular standard or technology. To date, taking advantage of standard APIs has been complicated for tools vendors. Often they end up creating proprietary techniques to achieve the benefits that standards were originally created to address. According to Mark Driver, research vice president with Gartner Group, the group is a welcome addition to help unify the Java community. He expects the alliance to produce a higher-quality set of development environments. The JTC will provide an online community for tool vendors, customers, and developers to collaborate together in three major areas: users to develop tools, interoperability of Java through standards, and communication across the entire design-time community.